Asia: Buoyed by BoJ action

Asian markets rose yesterday Wednesday 19 September after Japan’s central bank said it would boost a asset-buying scheme to kickstart the economy, which also sent the yen lower against the dollar and euro.

The Bank of Japan said after a two-day policy meeting it would boost an asset-purchasing fund by 10 trillion yen to 80 trillion yen while keeping interest rates between zero and 0.1 per cent.

Tokyo stocks closed at their highest level in more than four months. The Nikkei 225 Index rose 108.44 points, or 1.19 per cent, at 9,232.21, the best finish since May 2, while the Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.85 per cent, or 6.44 points, at 764.80.

The BoJ action does not compare with the US Federal Reserve’s “unlimited easing” programme, “but it is positive,” an equity trader at a foreign brokerage told Dow Jones Newswires.

“The trend is good, but now that this round of easing is done, the market will look for other drivers to sustain the gains,” he added.

Sydney also closed at its highest level since May, gaining 0.54 per cent, or 23.7 points, at 4,418.4 while Seoul was 0.15 per cent higher, or 2.92 points, at 2,007.88.

Chinese shares closed up 0.40 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index advanced 8.29 points to 2,067.83.

Mumbai was closed for a public holiday.

HONG KONG: SHARES closed at a four-and-a-half month high yesterday, after Japan’s central bank followed its US and European counterparts in announcing stimulus moves.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 239.98 points, or 1.16 per cent, to 20,841.91, ending at its highest close since May 4.
“With the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve and now the Bank of Japan – all the world’s major central banks – moving to ease, there will now be expectations for the PBOC (People’s Bank of China) to follow suit,” said Jackson Wong, Tanrich Securities’ vice-president for equity sales.

SINGAPORE: SOUTHEAST Asian stock markets ended mostly higher yesterday as the Bank of Japan’s easing monetary policy announcement helped lift sentiment and a strong global oil market triggered bargain hunting in recently-battered commodity shares.
In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times Index closed 0.25 per cent, or 7.65 points, higher at 3,075.63.
Among the actives, Fraser and Neave fell 1 per cent to S$8.88 while Singapore Airlines gained 1.99 per cent to S$10.78.

KUALA LUMPUR: SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended yesterday’s trading on a positive note, helped by gains in most heavyweight stocks, dealers said.
After hovering in a tight range of between 1,640.81 and 1,647.32, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 5.78 points, or 0.35 per cent, higher at 1,646.11.
A dealer said the local bourse was influenced by positive sentiment despite the cautious trading on regional stock markets.
“In Tokyo, the sentiment was dampened by tensions between Japan and China over a dispute on a group of islands, which has sparked widespread anti-Japan protests in China and calls for a boycott of Japanese goods and services,” he said.
“Instability in the global oil price has also kept investors on the sidelines,” another dealer said.
Gainer led losers by 353 to 332, while 361 counters were unchanged, 583 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Among active counters, Ingenuity Solutions lost six sen to 13 sen, Takaso Resources advanced 3.5 sen to 26.5 sen, while Astral Supreme and AT Systematization earned three sen each to 38.5 sen and 21.5 sen respectively.
As for heavyweights, Maybank and Sime Darby were flat at RM9.46 and RM9.79 respectively, CIMB increased one sen to RM7.69 and Axiata added 16 sen to RM6.28.
Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures contracts closed higher in tandem with the positive trade on the cash market, dealers said.
September 2012 and March 2013 jumped seven points each to 1,640 and 1,634.5 respectively, while October 2012 and December 2012 surged 8.5 points each to 1,642 and 1,639.5 respectively.
Turnover slid to 3,548 lots from 4,253 lots, while open interest fell to 31,228 contracts from 32,317 contracts on Tuesday.

In other markets:

* Taipei rose 0.62 per cent, or 47.65 points, to 7,781.91.

* Manila finished down 0.26 per cent, or 14.10 points, to close at 5,317.03.

* Jakarta closed 0.49 per cent, or 20.82 points, higher at 4,244.71.

* Bangkok edged up 0.99 per cent or 12.60 points to 1,285.46.

VIETNAM: Vietnamese shares closed mixed today as investors bottom fished blue chips on HOSE but stil sold shares to cut losses on the smaller cap bourse HNX, volume rose sharply thanks to put-through deals.
The benchmark VN Index added 0.04 point or 0.01% to 394.55. Volume rose 7.2% to 44.84 million shares worth of VND697.05 billion.
Put through trading contributed 7.74 million shares worth of VND180 billion.
We saw 3.3 million SBT shares changed hands at VND17,000each and 1 million BHS shares traded for VND17,000 each.
Today’s market breadth was still negative on the primary bourse where 93 stocks advanced, 124 declined, 62 closed unchanged.
The VN30 lost 3.31 points or 0.72%, to 457.13. Among its 30 members 14 gained, 12 lost the ground and 4 unchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX lost 0.41 point or 0.73% to 56.07.Trading volume rose 104.92% to 67.3 million shares worth VND805.9 billion.
The soaring volume came from put-through deal of VND34.05 million ACB shares changed hands in the put-through deal at VND15,900 each.
The market breadth turned positive where 115 rallied, 78 declined, 65 closed unmoved, the rest untraded.
The HNX30 bucked trend to close up 0.29 point or 0.28% to 105. Of its 30 member, 20 gained, 6 unchanged, 4 lost.

EUROPE:    European shares edged higher yesterday after Japan’s central bank followed others in easing policy to support an economic recovery, though Spain’s reluctance to seek a bailout kept a lid on gains.
At 1123 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index, which lost 0.4 per cent on Tuesday, was up 0.2 per cent at 1,113.63 points. The eurozone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index traded down 0.1 per cent at 2,551.08 points
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.08 per cent to 5,872.78 points in late morning deals, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slipped 0.03 per cent to 7,345.57 and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.07 per cent to 3,510.09.
Giuseppe-Guido Amato, strategist at Lang & Schwarz in Frankfurt, said: “I am still cautious. Investors need to be selective and look for big companies that have steady cash flow, attractive dividends and products that consumers will continue to buy.”

AMERICA: U.S. stocks closed higher after a pair of encouraging reports about the housing market.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that home sales rose in August to the highest level since May 2010. The government says construction of single-family homes also jumped to the fastest pace in more than two years.

Stocks overseas rose after the Bank of Japan announced a stimulus plan similar to what the Federal Reserve approved last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 13 points at 13,577. The S&P 500 closed up two at 1,461. The Nasdaq closed up five at 3,182.

About four stocks rose for every three that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was average at 3.36 billion shares.

Benchmark Currency Rates

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.3053	0.0128	1.6226	1.0786	1.0252	1.0465	0.1290
EUR	0.7663	–	0.0098	1.2432	0.8263	0.7855	0.8017	0.0988
JPY	78.3800	102.3100	–	127.1910	84.5370	80.3630	82.0310	10.1100
GBP	0.6163	0.8044	0.0079	–	0.6646	0.6318	0.6449	0.0795
CHF	0.9271	1.2103	0.0118	1.5043	–	0.9506	0.9702	0.1196
CAD	0.9754	1.2732	0.0124	1.5828	1.0520	–	1.0208	0.1258
AUD	0.9556	1.2472	0.0122	1.5505	1.0307	0.9797	–	0.1233
HKD	7.7529	10.1192	0.0989	12.5790	8.3611	7.9485	8.1129	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia