Asia: Markets end mixed

Asian markets ended mixed yesterday Monday July 02 and the euro was down as a rally sparked by last week’s surprise eurozone deal fizzled out, with weak manufacturing data from China also weighing on investors.

After rising in early trade, Tokyo edged down 0.04 per cent, or 3.30 points, to close at 9,003.48, while Seoul closed down 0.13 per cent, or 2.36 points, at 1,851.65.

Shanghai was flat, edging up 0.03 per cent, or 0.68 points, to close at 2,226.11. But Sydney put on 0.94 per cent, or 38.4 points, to close at 4,133.

Hong Kong was closed for a public holiday.

Weighing on markets yesterday, two closely-watched surveys showed weak manufacturing activity in China, renewing concerns about a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

“PMIs don’t look very good, and that heightens investors’ concerns over the domestic economy,” Gold State Securities analyst Wu Yu told Dow Jones Newswires.

“I think people are waiting to see if Beijing will introduce more monetary easing, such as a rate cut, to shore up sluggish equities markets.”

SINGAPORE: SOUTHEAST Asian stock markets were mostly higher yesterday, as investors cheered moves by European leaders to shore up the region’s troubled banks.
In Singapore, stocks hovered around their highest in almost two months. The benchmark Straits Times index, which posted more than 4 per cent loss in the second quarter, closed up 1.12 per cent, or 32.14 points, at 2,910.59.
The index’s jump was led by oil rig builders such as Keppel Corp, which gained 3.31 per cent to S$10.62.

KUALA LUMPUR: SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher yesterday on improved sentiment in regional markets after eurozone leaders agreed on a EURO120 billion package as a short-term measure to combat the debt crisis last Friday, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI closed a shade above the 1,600 level. It gained 1.70 points to end at 1,600.85.
The Finance Index added 25.289 points to 14,266.27, the Plantation Index increased 12.131 points to 8,496.19 while the Industrial Index declined 0.12 point to 2,847.35.
The FBM Emas Index advanced 23.391 points to 10,941.03, FBM 70 Index gained 72.79 points to 11,992.17 and the FBM Ace Index increased 26 points to 4,380.70.

On other markets:

* Taipei rose 0.67 per cent, or 48.88 points, to 7,345.16.

* Manila closed 1.03 per cent, 53.83 points, higher at 5,300.24.

* Bangkok added 1.42 per cent, or 16.63 points, to 1,188.74.

* Jakarta rose 0.91 per cent, or 35.96 points, closing at 3,991.54.

* Mumbai fell 0.18 per cent or 31.0 points to 17,398.98, snapping four straight days of gains.

VIETNAM: Vietnamese stocks kicked off the new week in the red as investors sold shares to cut loss on fear of further selling pressure, market sentiment was weak.
The benchmark VN Index lost 3.07 points or 0.72% to 419.3. Volume fell further by 30.76% to 38.6 million shares worth of VND620.5 billion. Put through trading contributed 9 million shares worth of VND186.1 billion. We saw 1.9 million IFS shares changed hands at VND4,600 each and 1.75 million TIX shares changed hands at VND21,000 each.
The VN30 fell 5.07 points or 1.02%, to 492.66. Amongst its 30 members, 2 stock rallied, 24 lost and 4 unchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX lost 0.98 point or 1.38% to 70.09. Trading volume fell 10.7% to 24.3 million shares worth VND223.2 billion.

EUROPE: European equities scaled two-month highs yesterday, with heavily underweight investors rushing to take part in a rally fuelled by expectations of more policy action to come after concrete steps from politicians to combat the eurozone crisis.
The FTSEurofirst 300 was up 0.7 per cent at 1,028.51 points by 1020 GMT, having earlier set its highest level since early May at 1,033.83.
The eurozone blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index added 0.8 per cent to 2,283.50, also hitting two-month highs.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed 0.50 per cent to 5,599.06 points approaching midday here.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 advanced 0.83 percent to 6,469.44 points and in Paris the CAC 40 climbed 0.85 per cent to 3,197.06. Madrid’s IBEX 35 fell 0.31 per cent to 7,080.30 points.
“The session sees the euphoria sparked by last week’s EU summit cooling somewhat – with stocks still benefitting but off session highs,” said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at trading group ETX Capital.

AMERICA: Investors rejoiced over Europe last week. On Monday, they got back to worrying about the United States. Stocks struggled to stay out of the red in quiet holiday-week trading after a trade group said American manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in almost three years.

The Dow Jones industrial average was higher in early trading but fell after the manufacturing report came out at 10 a.m. EDT and never recovered. It finished down 8.70 points at 12,871.39. The Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq composite index both finished slightly higher after hopping between small gains and losses. The S&P rose 3.35 to 1,365.51. The Nasdaq rose 16.18 to 2,951.23.

Chemical company DuPont fell the most in the Dow. It lost $1.14, or 2.3 percent, to $49.43. Caterpillar, General Electric, Alcoa, Exxon Mobil, Boeing and other companies tied to manufacturing were also down.

It was a tepid performance compared with Europe’s. Stock indexes in France, Britain and Germany rose more than 1 percent, still riding the euphoria from Friday’s announcement that European leaders will make it easier for banks to get bailout loans. That news pushed the Dow up 277 points Friday.

Monday was the first day of trading for the second half of the year. In the first half, the S&P gained more than 8 percent. Several financial analysts said they expected volatile markets, at least through the November presidential election.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.59 percent on Monday, down from 1.63 on Friday. The price of crude oil fell $1.21 to end the day at $83.75 per barrel.

In corporate news:

— Best Buy jumped nearly $1.24, or 5.9 percent, to $22.20 after reports that its founder would offer to buy the company and take it private. Best Buy, an electronics store, has struggled to keep up with online-only competitors like Amazon.

— Groupon fell $1.12, or $9.51, after analysts at Susquehanna cut their price target for the company, noting higher marketing expenses.

Benchmark Currency Rates (Bloomberg)

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.2586	0.0126	1.5694	1.0476	0.9837	1.0252	0.1289
EUR	0.7946	–	0.0100	1.2469	0.8325	0.7817	0.8144	0.1024
JPY	79.5000	100.0500	–	124.7450	83.2890	78.1960	81.5000	10.2490
GBP	0.6372	0.8020	0.0080	–	0.6676	0.6268	0.6533	0.0822
CHF	0.9544	1.2012	0.0120	1.4978	–	0.9389	0.9784	0.1230
CAD	1.0166	1.2794	0.0128	1.5954	1.0651	–	1.0422	0.1311
AUD	0.9754	1.2276	0.0123	1.5308	1.0220	0.9596	–	0.1257
HKD	7.7570	9.7624	0.0976	12.1738	8.1268	7.6306	7.9524	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia