Asia Roundup: Markets end mixed

Asian markets were mixed yesterday Wednesday October 24 as the effect of big Wall Street losses sparked by weak reports and forecasts from top US companies was offset by an improvement in Chinese manufacturing.

However, selling was also given impetus by concerns over Spain as well as profit-taking after an impressive run by global markets in recent weeks following easing measures in the United States, Japan and Europe.

Tokyo stocks fell after poor earnings and weak profit forecasts from major US industrial firms sent Wall Street plummeting.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index gave up 59.95 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 8,954.30, while the broader Topix index of all first-section issues slipped 0.81 per cent, or 6.10 points, to 743.27.

Analysts added, however, that the losses were tempered by a weaker yen and speculation that the Bank of Japan(BoJ) will usher in more easing measures.

“If the BoJ eases, stocks will rise,” said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, general manager of investment & research at SMBC Friend Securities.

Chinese shares closed flat. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.07 per cent, or 1.54 points, to 2,115.99.

“The PMI data provided a fresh sign that the domestic economy may have started to recover, and this will strengthen the upward trend in the market,” Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing said.

Seoul fell 0.67 per cent, or 12.85 points, to 1,913.96 and Sydney lost 0.82 per cent, or 37.3 points, at 4,505.8.

HONG KONG:  STOCKS ended higher yesterday after Chinese data indicated the slowdown in manufacturing activity in the world’s number two economy was easing.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.31 per cent, or 66.23 points, to 21,763.78 – its highest since August 4 last year and its ninth gain in a row.
“Incoming fund flows are sure to further buoy Hong Kong markets further, with local developers and Chinese construction-related plays likely to see further short-term buying interest,” Edward Huang, equity strategist with Haitong International Securities said.

SINGAPORE:  SOUTHEAST Asian stock markets headed in mixed directions yesterday.
Thai stocks posted their biggest daily loss in three months while Indonesia pared early losses as investors picked large caps.
In Singapore, stocks closed lower. The benchmark Straits Times Index closed down 0.20 per cent, or 6.20 points, at 3,044.73.
Among the active stocks, City Developments shed 1.04 per cent to S$11.45 and United Overseas Bank slid 0.65 per cent to S$18.40.

KUALA LUMPUR:  SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher on the back of selective buying of blue-chip counters ahead of the Hari Raya Haji holiday tomorrow, dealers said.
At the close, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.09 points higher at 1,667.99, supported by stocks like Genting and UEM Land. It opened 1.43 points lower at 1,663.47, and hovered between 1,661.03 and 1,670.09 throughout the day.
Among individual stocks, Astro rose 6.25 per cent to RM2.89 after the Singapore High Court awarded the company RM762 million in compensation for a failed joint venture with Indonesia’s Lippo Group.
UEM Land advanced 11.4 per cent to RM2.15 after it entered into a 40:60 joint venture with Ascendas to build a RM3 billion industrial park in Iskandar Malaysia’s economic zone.
The Finance Index rose 49.58 points to 14,891.35, the Plantation Index gained 50.21 points to 8,213.75, and the Industrial Index added 3.17 points to 2,897.74.
The FBM Emas Index advanced 36.12 points to 11,336.66, the FBMT100 rose 32.88 points to 11,173.61 and the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 93.641 points to 12,249.41.
The FBM ACE Index improved 12.28 points to 4,252.73. On the broader market, gainers led losers 410 to 272, with 348 counters unchanged and 613 others untraded.
Among heavyweights, Maybank lost five sen to RM9.00, Axiata dropped two sen to RM6.63 and Sime Darby was flat at RM9.80.
Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended higher in sync with the cash market on strong buying support, dealers said.
October and November were 2.5 points better at 1672.01 and 1,670.5 respectively. December added one point to 1,670.5 and March 2013 increased two points to 1,665.

In other markets:

* Taipei fell 0.31 per cent, or 22.60 points, to 7,314.88.

* Manila closed 0.62 per cent lower, shedding 33.63 points to 5,398.69.

* Bangkok fell 1.18 per cent, or 15.42 points, to 1,295.00.

* Jakarta closed up 0.12 per cent, or 5.23 points, at 4,335.38. Mumbai was closed for a public holiday.

VIETNAM: Vietnamese shares were back to losing string after a single day rebound, liquidity fell further on caution.
The benchmark VN Index lost 2.26 points or 0.57% to 395.45. Volume fell 3.1%to 34.2 million shares worth of VND489.97 billion.
Put through trading contributed 10.78 million shares worth of VND198.93 billion. We saw 8 million EIB shares changed hands at VND16,500 each and 01.33 million SBT changed hands at VND16,900 each.
Today’s market breadth turned negative again on the primary bourse where 80 stocks advanced, 124 declined, 78 closed unchanged.
The VN30 fell 3.2 points or 0.68%, to 466.62. Among its 30 members 3 gained, 13 lost the ground and 14 unchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX lost 0.31 point or 0.57% to 54.25.
Trading volume fell 2.6% to 17.7 million shares worth VND118.1 billion.
The market breadth turned negative where 83 rallied, 103 declined, 76 closed unmoved, the rest untraded.
The HNX30 lost 1.21 points or 1.18% to 100.94. Of its 30 members, 5 rallied, 13 declined, 12 closed unmoved.

EUROPE: European shares advanced yesterday, bouncing back after a steep sell-off in the previous session, as investors drew some strength from encouraging data out of China.
The FTSEurofirst 300 was up 0.4 per cent at 1,092.55 by 1122 GMT, having sunk 1.7 per cent on Tuesday.
By late morning in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX were both flat, at 5,800 and 7,175 respectively. France’s CAC-40 was up 0.3 per cent to 3,415.
“All you’re doing is getting a bit of an adjustment after yesterday’s(Tuesday’s) sharp move lower,” Michael Hewson, senior markets analyst at CMC Markets, said.

AMERICA: The steep losses finally stopped Wednesday as the stock market turned calm, a day after one of its biggest sell-offs of the year. Indexes ended with slight losses after the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy still needs support.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 25.19 points at 13,077.34, a day after one of its worst drops this year.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 4.36 points to close at 1,408.75 while the Nasdaq composite index fell 8.76 points to 2,991.70.

“Today we’re assessing the damage,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. “Everybody just got clobbered yesterday.”

Lower corporate revenue and expectations for the rest of the year drove the Dow down 243 points Tuesday, its third-biggest drop this year. DuPont, 3M, UPS and Xerox all reported lower sales than a year ago.

“It seemed out of the blue, but what we were seeing was stock prices adjusting to corporate profitability,” Luschini said.

The market flitted between small gains and losses for much of the day. Indexes started to fade after 2 p.m., after the Fed repeated its assessment that the U.S. economic recovery remains modest at best.

At the end of its latest two-day meeting, the Fed said the economy is still expanding at just a “moderate pace” and that it needs time to see whether a new bond-buying effort launched in September will spur economic growth and new hiring.

The latest batch of earnings reports wasn’t as dire, and there was the occasional piece of encouraging news.

Facebook had its best day since its stock market debut in May. The company said late Tuesday that 14 % of its advertising revenue came from mobile devices, allaying some investor concerns.

The social network’s stock soared $3.73 to $23.23, a jump of 19 %. Facebook has swung widely since its IPO at $38, and has traded as low as $17.55.

AT&T, which is part of the Dow average, said it added the fewest wireless customers since 2003, far behind Verizon Wireless. AT&T’s results still managed to beat the estimates of financial analysts. AT&T slid 29 cents to $34.71.

A measure of manufacturing in China, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, improved this month to a three-month high. China’s white-hot economic growth has been slowing.

Homebuilder stocks gained after the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes jumped last month to the highest level in more than two years. Toll Brothers rose 70 cents to $35.25 and D.R. Horton rose 32 cents to $21.41.

A drop in profits for Norfolk Southern hit other railroad stocks. Norfolk Southern reported a 27 % slump in quarterly earnings late Tuesday, as falling coal prices led to lower revenue. Many utilities have favored using cheap natural gas instead of burning coal this year, pushing down coal prices and weighing on railroad operators.

Norfolk Southern fell $4.92 to $61.09. Union Pacific lost $2.35 to $120.87.

Prices for U.S. government bonds inched lower, sending yields up. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.79 % from 1.76 % late Tuesday.

Among other stocks in the news:

Netflix dropped $8.10, or 12 %, to $60.12. Late Tuesday, it slashed its prediction for how many U.S. video-streaming subscribers it would add this year to 4.7 million to 5 million. It had predicted it would add as many as 7 million.

Dow Chemical rose $1.33 to $29.88. The company announced a wide-ranging restructuring plan late Tuesday that includes cutting 2,400 jobs and closing 20 manufacturing facilities. The company cited slowing economic growth in Europe and elsewhere.

Tempur-Pedic International sank 20 % after the maker of memory-foam mattresses reported revenue that was well below the estimates of Wall Street analysts. The company also cut its estimates for full-year profits and revenue. Its stock plunged $6.21 to $25.66.

Benchmark Currency Rates

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.2973	0.0125	1.6036	1.0724	1.0065	1.0361	0.1290
EUR	0.7708	–	0.0096	1.2360	0.8266	0.7759	0.7988	0.0995
JPY	79.8900	103.6300	–	128.1160	85.6760	80.3970	82.7590	10.3080
GBP	0.6236	0.8090	0.0078	–	0.6687	0.6277	0.6461	0.0805
CHF	0.9325	1.2097	0.0117	1.4954	–	0.9385	0.9661	0.1203
CAD	0.9936	1.2891	0.0124	1.5934	1.0655	–	1.0294	0.1282
AUD	0.9652	1.2522	0.0121	1.5478	1.0350	0.9714	–	0.1245
HKD	7.7504	10.0544	0.0970	12.4288	8.3113	7.7995	8.0301	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia