Asia: Investors cash in on gains

Asian markets mostly fell yesterday Friday July 20 as profit-taking after the previous day’s rallies overshadowed another strong performance on Wall Street.

Dealers took the last day of the week to cash in after Thursday’s advances that came in the wake of hopes for another US stimulus drive as well as strong corporate results.

Shares in Tokyo ended lower despite an overnight rise on Wall Street, due to a strong yen and profit-taking ahead of corporate earnings results next week.

The Nikkei 225 index lost 1.43 per cent, or 125.68 points, to 8,669.87.

“Caution is emerging over domestic corporate earnings results,” said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equity division at SMBC Nikko Securities. told Dow Jones Newswires. “The yen movement is a source of worries.”

Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager of research at Chibagin Asset Management, said investors were locking in profits ahead of earnings season.

Chinese shares closed down. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.74 per cent, or 16.20 points, to 2,168.64.

Dealers were spooked after China ruled out the possibility of any loosening measures in the property sector, dealers said.

Sydney was 0.18 per cent, or 7.6 points, lower at 4,199.1, while Seoul was virtually unchanged, nudging down 0.03 points to 1,822.93.

HONG KONG: SHARES ended higher yesterday following another positive lead from Wall Street, but gains were capped by profit-taking after a rally the previous day. The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 0.42 per cent, or 81.75 points, at 19,640.80.
Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Asia, said the low turnover “reflects most market participants are still cautious”.
South China Research said in a note that while speculation about more mainland policy easing had supported the Hong Kong bourse “the upside remained shaky on thin trading, which also implied a lack of confidence.”

SINGAPORE: MOST Southeast Asian markets eased yesterday in thin trading as Spain borrowing cost weighed on investor sentiment.
Optimism over strong corporate earnings in the previous day evaporated due to renewed fears over Spain’s borrowing costs, despite the expected approval of its bank bailout plan later in the day.
In Singapore, shares fell from a one-year closing high, snapping five consecutive sessions of gains. The benchmark Straits Times Index closed 0.44 per cent, or 13.43 points, lower at 3,015.53.

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday on profit-taking as investors trimmed their positions ahead of the weekend, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.60 points to close at 1,643.00.
The market barometer moved between 1,641.58 and 1,647.41 throughout the day.
A dealer said profit-taking ahead of the weekend and the prolonged overbought momentum restricted the index from breaking the 1,650 level. “However, the market is expected to test the resistance level once trading resumes next week.”
The Finance Index declined 39.15 points to 14,691.21. The Plantation Index rose 16.59 points to 8,864.93 and the Industrial Index was 4.03 points higher at 2,874.62.
The FBM Emas Index went up 3.439 points to 11,257.47 and the FBMT100 increased 2.811 points to 11,073.65. The FBM ACE Index was 20.99 points lower at 4,300.6.

In other markets:

* Taipei gained 0.23 per cent, or 16.11 points, to 7,164.68.

* Manila closed 0.41 per cent higher, adding 21.52 points to 5,210.89.*

* Jakarta fell 0.37 per cent, or 15.00 points, to 4,081.20.* Bangkok fell 0.36 per cent or 4.41 points to 1,208.55.

* Bangkok fell 0.36 per cent or 4.41 points to 1,208.55.

* Mumbai fell 0.70 per cent, or 120.41 points, to 17,158.44.

VIETNAM:
Vietnamese shares fell today as traders took profit after recent hefty rally, liquidity stayed at high level.
The benchmark VN Index fell 3.91 points or 0.91% to 424.47. Volume fell 14.1% to 72.9 million shares worth of VND1.06 trillion. Put through trading contributed 6.2 million shares worth of VND130.75 billion.

The VN30 lost  5.17 points or 1.03%, to 497.43.  Amongst its 30 members, 6 gained, 21 lost and 3 unchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX lost 0.74 point or 1.01% to 72.19. Trading volume fell  7.9% to 63.9 million shares worth VND606.5 billion.

HNX30 fell 1.65 points or 1.17% to 138.68.

EUROPE: European stocks and the euro fell yesterday amid fresh Spanish debt strains and as investors banked strong gains won over the past week, traders said.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.9 per cent at 1,055 by 1200 GMT.

Earlier, in late morning trade, London’s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.40 per cent to 5,691.52 points.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index dipped 0.07 per cent to 6,754.04 points and in Paris the CAC 40 slid 0.44 per cent to 3,249.43. Madrid shed 0.77 per cent.

“European markets are trading in a soft manner, with clients consolidating this week’s healthy gains across equities,” said ETX Capital analyst Ishaq Siddiqi.

AMERICA: U.S. stocks fell Friday after three days of gains, dragged down by concerns about Europe. Spain’s stock market plunged nearly 6 percent after a regional government there asked for a financial lifeline.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 120.79 points, or 0.9 percent, to 12,822.57.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 13.85 points, or 1 percent, to 1,362.66.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 40.60 points, or 1.4 percent, 2,925.30.

For the week:

The Dow is up 45.48, or 0.4 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 5.88, or 0.4 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 16.83, or 0.6 percent.

For the year:

The Dow is up 605.01, or 5 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 105.06, or 8.4 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 320.15, or 12.3 percent.

Benchmark Currency Rates

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.2158	0.0127	1.5622	1.0124	0.9873	1.0378	0.1289
EUR	0.8224	–	0.0105	1.2850	0.8326	0.8122	0.8537	0.1060
JPY	78.4800	95.4300	–	122.5900	79.4490	77.4950	81.4520	10.1190
GBP	0.6401	0.7784	0.0082	–	0.6479	0.6321	0.6644	0.0825
CHF	0.9881	1.2011	0.0126	1.5436	–	0.9756	1.0253	0.1274
CAD	1.0127	1.2308	0.0129	1.5822	1.0252	–	1.0508	0.1306
AUD	0.9635	1.1714	0.0123	1.5053	0.9752	0.9515	–	0.1242
HKD	7.7563	9.4290	0.0988	12.1164	7.8503	7.6598	8.0504	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia