Asia markets easier as profit-taking continues Tueday May 12

Asian markets were lower yesterday Tuesday May 12 as investors continued to take profits following some hefty recent gains, while a lack of any major economic pointers restrained buying elsewhere.

“Stocks have had a huge run-up. Two and a half months ago, stocks were ridiculously cheap. Now, based on valuations and forecasts they are fairly valued or even slightly overvalued,” said IG Markets analyst Ben Potter.

TOKYO: Down 1.62 percent. The Nikkei-225 lost 153.37 points to 9,298.61.
The Nikkei “could easily turn around and fall towards 9,000, depending on how Wall Street performs,” Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

SYDNEY: Down 1.2 percent. The S&P/ASX200 was off 48.8 points at 3,877.2.
“The pullback so far has been on very low volumes, indicating that the market is falling predominantly due to a lack of buying rather than an overwhelming amount of selling,” said IG Markets analyst Ben Potter.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.38 percent higher yesterday, as strong investor confidence helped overturn earlier losses, dealers said.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 65.69 points at 17,153.64, after dropping into negative territory in the morning session.
Traders said the overbought local market would likely reverse course soon, adding however that a dramatic plunge was unlikely.

SHANGHAI: Up 1.49 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, was up 38.42 points at 2,618.17.
Property, steel and finance firms helped the market rise, dealers said.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 0.56 percent higher yesterday after bargain-hunting reversed earlier losses, dealers said.
The blue-chip Straits Times Index climbed 12.03 points to 2,178.13.

TAIPEI: Down 3.23 percent. The weighted index fell 214.95 points to 6,432.55. The overnight weakness of Wall Street also weighed on the local market, a dealer said.

SEOUL: Down 0.82 percent. The Kospi ended down 11.65 points at 1,403.51.
“Institutions and foreign investors locked in profits as they were worried that the market will undergo a correction,” Bae Sung-Yeong, an analyst at Hyundai Investment and Securities, told Yonhap news agency.

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia slipped into a consolidation mood yesterday. Its overall declining counters out-paced advancing counters by 452 to 253.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) rebounded from an intra-day low of 1,013.36 points to an intra-day high of 1,023.73 yesterday. It closed at 1,023.02 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 2.48 points, or 0.24 percent.

BANGKOK: Up 1.75 percent. The SET composite index gained 9.36 points to close at 544.54 , while the blue-chip SET-50 index rose 6.47 points to 387.25.
The market reached its highest level since political protests erupted in deadly violence in October, dealers said.

JAKARTA: Up 0.62 percent. The composite index gained 11.28 points at 1,842.02.

MANILA: Down 0.51 percent. The composite index fell 11.64 points to 2,253.91 while the all-share index lost 0.46 percent to 1,449.66.
“It’s a bout of profit-taking, taking its cue from the sharp decline on Wall Street,” said Manny Cruz of Asiasec Equities Inc.

MUMBAI: Up 4.07 percent. The 30-share Sensex rose 475.04 points to 12,158.0, helped by fresh fund buying.

VIETNAM: The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (STC) saw a sharp increase when VN Index surged by 9.02 points or 2.42 percent from the previous session to 381.97 pts.
The HASTC Index of the southern floor rose 2.11 points or 1.62 percent against May 11 to 132.75 points with a total market trade of 28,437,700 shares worth 781.839 billion dong.

EUROPE: European equities closed lower in choppy trade yesterday with weaker financial and mining stocks outweighing positive drugmakers and energy shares.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.2 percent lower at 852.62 points after hovering in a broad range of 847.25-861.39 points.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares slipped 0.22 percent to 4,425.54 points. Frankfurt’s DAX was down 0.26 percent at 4,854.11 points and in Paris the CAC 40 index lost 0.54 percent to 3,231.10 points.

AMERICA: Stocks ended mixed but well off their lows Tuesday as early concerns about a barrage of stock offerings eased and rising oil prices lifted energy stocks. The Dow Jones industrials rose 50 points, while broader indicators fell.
The Dow rose 50.34, or 0.6 percent, to 8,469.11 after falling 155 on Monday. The S&P 500 index slipped 0.89, or 0.1 percent, to 908.35 and the Nasdaq fell 15.32, or 0.9 percent, to 1,715.92.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.76, or 1.4 percent, to 495.18.
Analysts said a break in the market’s ascent had been overdue. The jump came as economic and corporate reports signaled the economy could be stabilising.
Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.7 billion shares compared with 5.9 billion shares traded Monday.

GOLD: (Reuters) – Gold rose on Wednesday above $925 per ounce, extending the previous day’s gains when a weaker
dollar and a wider US trade gap prompted fund buying.

Benchmark Currency Rates
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
HKD	7.7502	10.6277	0.0808	11.869	7.0546	6.6962	5.963
AUD	1.2997	1.7823	0.0135	1.9904	1.1831	1.123	 	0.1677
CAD	1.1574	1.5871	0.0121	1.7725	1.0535	 	0.8905	0.1493
CHF	1.0986	1.5065	0.0114	1.6825	 	0.9492	0.8453	0.1418
GBP	0.653	0.8954	0.0068	 	0.5944	0.5642	0.5024	0.0843
JPY	95.965	131.5958	146.966	87.3521	82.9143	73.8355	12.3823
EUR	0.7292	 	0.0076	1.1168	0.6638	0.6301	0.5611	0.0941
USD	 	1.3713	0.0104	1.5314	0.9102	0.864	0.7694	0.129
                                                              Bloomberg

 

Category: Stocks