Asia mixed as investors turn cautious June 18

Asian stocks were mostly lower yesterday Wednesday Jun 17 as investors continued to lock in profits on mounting concerns that the recent market rally may have been overblown. US stocks mostly fell Wednesday.
“People are starting to hold back. It has been a phenomenal rally,” said James Porteous, manager at ABN Amro Craigs.

TOKYO: Up 0.90 percent. The Nikkei-225 gained 87.97 points to 9,840.85.
Investors hunted for bargains after two days of losses, dealers said.

SYDNEY: Down 1.5 percent. The SP/ASX200 fell 58.4 points to 3,904.1.
The market fell for the third straight day due to a drop in resources stocks, dealers said.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.45 percent lower yesterday, as falls in property counters wiped out any gains in Chinese banks, dealers said.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 80.90 points to 18,084.60.
“The market is lacking a clear focus and is likely to track overall regional weakness, with profit-taking pressure extending,” said Conita Hung, head of equity markets at Delta Asia Financial, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 0.73 percent down yesterday following a fall in US stocks and as investors looked for fresh leads.
The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 16.71 points to 2,271.45.
AmFraser Securities senior vice president of equity research Najeeb Jarhom said the downswing could last until next week.

SHANGHAI: Up 1.24 percent. The composite index rose 34.45 points to 2,810.47.
Bargain hunters snapped up property and banking stocks late in the session outweighed concerns over the pending resumption of initial public offerings, or IPOs, dealers said.

TAIPEI: Down 0.40 percent. The weighted index fell 24.90 points to 6,195.91. Selling focused on the heavily weighted electronic big caps.

SEOUL: Down 0.57 percent. The Kospi ended down 7.98 points at 1,391.17.
Analysts said declining hopes for a quick economic recovery spurred profit-taking in most financial stocks and steelmakers.

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia continued to consolidate their recent gains yesterday. Trading focus for the the day shifted to second board counters. Overall advancing counters outpaced declining counters by 368 to 313.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) opened marginally higher at 1,071.99 before rebounding to its intra-day high of 1,075.44 yesterday. It closed at 1,070.90 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 3.22 points, or 0.30 percent.

BANGKOK: Down 1.74 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index fell 10.40 points to close at 586.14, and the blue-chip SET-50 index was down 9.06 points at 420.99.
Teerada Chanyingyong, an analyst from Phillip Securities, said the market fell for the third consecutive day in line with other regional markets.
“Investors are concerned that the global economy will recover more slowly than expected,” she said.

JAKARTA: Down 0.27 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index lost 5.40 points to 2,024.97.
“Worries that stocks in the US will fall tonight (Wednesday) on upcoming economic data there kept overall sentiment here weak,” a dealer told Dow Jones Newswires.

MANILA: Down 2.9 percent. The composite index lost 72.42 points to 2,441.75 while the all-share index fell 2.26 percent to 1,575.87.
“We’re seeing a reversal of sentiment abroad and it’s being reflected here,” ATR-Kim Eng Securities’ Ricardo Puig said. “Plus, we’re about to enter the usually weak third quarter.”

MUMBAI: Down 2.91 percent. Investors turned cautious on fresh concerns over growth across global economies.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex fell 435.07 points to 14,522.84

VIETNAM: the VN Index reversed as increasing by 0.5 point slightly or 0.11 percentfrom the previous session to close at 472.47 points with a matching order trade of 67.27 million shares worth 2.568 trillion dong, an increase of 49 percent in volume and 56 percent in value.
The HASTC index slightly increased by 1.99 points or 1.21 percent against the previous session to 167.02 points with a total market trade of 41,230,500 shares worth over 1.372 trillion dong.

EUROPE: European stock markets closed sharply lower yesterday, extending losses after weaker-than-expected US inflation data raised fresh doubts about the strength of any US economic recovery.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares fell 1.9 percent to 845.76 points – its lowest close since May 15.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares fell 1.16 percent to 4,278.46 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX lost 1.86 percent to 4,799.98 points and in Paris the CAC 40 index was down 1.64 percent at 3,161.14 points.

AMERICA: Stocks mostly fell Wednesday, though health shares gained as the Senate made tentative steps on a health care overhaul plan.
Financial stocks saw some of the biggest losses after Standard & Poor’s cut its ratings and revised outlooks on big banks. S&P cited concerns that the financial industry will remain volatile and that banks are expected to face tighter regulatory oversight.

In a bright spot, consumer prices rose less than forecast in May. Investors have been worrying that rising prices would threaten a recovery in the economy by curbing demand.

The drop this week comes after stocks notched only modest gains last week. The selling has inserted a break into a three-month rally that had carried the S&P 500 index up 40 percent from 12-year lows. Many traders say expectations for an economic recovery had been too rosy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 7.49, or 0.1 percent, to 8,497.18 after moving in and out of positive territory during the day. The broader S&P 500 index fell 1.26, or 0.1 percent, to 910.71, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 11.88, or 0.7 percent, to 1,808.06.

Stocks that fell outnumbered those that rose by 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.62 billion shares, up from 4.86 billion shares Tuesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.29, or 0.7 percent, to 507.03.

Oil rose 56 cents to settle at $71.03 a barrel after a key government report said crude held in U.S. storage houses fell for the third straight week.

Benchmark Currency Rates
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
HKD	7.7503	10.8115	0.081	12.7047	7.1765	6.8478	6.1642
AUD	1.2573	1.7539	0.0131	2.061	1.1642	1.1109	 	0.1622
CAD	1.1318	1.5788	0.0118	1.8553	1.048	 	0.9002	0.146
CHF	1.08	1.5065	0.0113	1.7703	 	0.9542	0.8589	0.1393
GBP	0.61	0.851	0.0064	 	0.5649	0.539	0.4852	0.0787
JPY	95.715	133.5205	156.900	88.6291	84.5688	76.1269	12.3498
EUR	0.7169	 	0.0075	1.1751	0.6638	0.6334	0.5702	0.0925
USD	 	1.395	0.0104	1.6392	0.926	0.8835	0.7954	0.129

                                                              Bloomberg

 

Category: Stocks