Asia Roundup: Moderate increases

Asian shares were slightly up yesterday Thursday August 23 after the US Federal Reserve indicated it was leaning towards new economic stimulus efforts and manufacturing data suggested China may take similar measures.

Hopes for fresh stimulus boosts in the world’s two biggest economies rallied markets after Greece called on Wednesday for more time to make spending cuts, sending European shares down, and Wall Street saw little movement overnight.

Tokyo stocks rose to their highest level since early May. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index added 46.38 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 9,178.12, its highest close since May 8. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.24 per cent, or 1.86 points, to 764.59.

“As long as the dollar holds around the 78-yen mark, stock prices should not be too adversely affected,” kabu.com chief strategist Tatsunori Kawai told Dow Jones Newswires.

Chinese shares closed up. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 5.36 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 2,113.07.

Dealers said Chinese shares were affected positively by HSBC’s announcement that China’s manufacturing activity weakened to a nine-month low in August. They suggested the data may force Beijing into beefing up economic stimulus efforts.

Seoul finished 0.38 per cent higher, or 7.35 points up, at 1,942.54 and Sydney rose 0.17 per cent, or 7.7 points, to close at 4,383.7.

HONG KONG:  STOCKS ended higher yesterday, with investors buoyed by the possibility of new economic stimulus measures in the world’s two biggest economies – the United States and China.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 244.46 points, or 1.23 per cent, to 20,132.24, bouncing off a three-week low on Wednesday and returning above the 20,000 level that has supported the benchmark for all but two sessions in almost three weeks.
Turnover improved and was the highest this week to date.
Real-estate firms were among the winners while gold miners and jewellery retailers also rallied.

SINGAPORE:  SOUTHEAST Asian stock markets ended flat to slightly higher in light trade yesterday, propped up by hopes of stimulus measures from the US Federal Reserve while Vietnam fell for a third session amid credit fears spurred by the arrest of a banking tycoon.
In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times Index closed up 0.23 per cent, or 6.90 points, to 3,056.37.
Olam International fell 1.46 per cent to S$2.03 while DBS Group gained 0.48 per cent to S$14.65.

KUALA LUMPUR:  Share prices on Bursa Malaysia ended easier yesterday as key blue-chip counters struggled to find a footing, unlike the uptrend in the regional markets which were lifted on hopes of more monetary stimulus plan in the US.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 0.64 point easier at 1,651.61, after hovering between 1,650.53 and 1,655.24 throughout the day.
InterPacific Research Head Pong Teng Siew said Petronas Dagangan’s fall of 32 sen to RM22.68 was the major contributor to the lacklustre trading yesterday, followed by Petronas Gas, which was down four sen to RM19.46, and PPB Group, which slid 10 sen to RM14.20.

In other markets:

* Taipei edged up 0.11 per cent, or 8.59 points, to 7,505.17.

* Manila closed 0.98 per cent higher, or 50.69 points, to 5,202.84.

* Jakarta ended up 0.05 per cent, or 2.15 points, at 4,162.66.

* Bangkok added 0.28 per cent or 3.50 points to close at 1,237.64.

* Mumbai’s ended up 0.02 per cent higher or 3.36 points at 17,850.22.

VIETNAM: Vietnamese shares saw another sharp fall today because local investors continued to offload shares to cut loss, liquidity fell as caution rose.
The benchmark VN Index lost 17.41 points or 4.24% to 392.82, the sentiment threshold 400 was broken down fast and steeply.
Volume rose further by 47.65% to 38.83 million shares worth of VND679.5 billion. Put through trading contributed 1.75 million shares worth of VND40.44 billion.
The VN30 fell harder with a loss of 21.49 points or 4.42%, to 464.83.  All of its 30 members lost the ground.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX lost 3.42 points or 5.29% to 34.9. Trading volume was down 42.73% to 34.9 million shares worth VND322.1 billion.
HNX30 lost 7.69 points or 6.31% to 114.04.

EUROPE:  European shares turned negative yesterday as Wall Street futures eroded early gains, with investors waiting for a batch of US data releases later in the day for fresh clues to the state of the world’s biggest economy.
The FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.2 per cent at 1,094.02 by 1158 GMT, having traded as high as 1,102.67 .
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.47 per cent to 5,801.33 points in late morning trade, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 won 0.28 per cent to 7,037.51 and Paris’ CAC 40 added 0.32 per cent to 3,472.86 points.
“European financial markets are posting decent gains in response to yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) dovish Fed meeting minutes,” said ETX Capital trader Ishaq Siddiqi.

AMERICA: Stocks closed lower Thursday, dulled by a disappointing report on unemployment and fading hopes that the Federal Reserve plans to step in soon with action to help the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 115.30 points, or 0.9 percent, to 13,057.46.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 11.41 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,402.08.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 20.27 points, or 0.7 percent, to 3,053.40.

For the week:

The Dow is down 187.39 points, or 1.4 percent.

The S&P 500 is down 16.08 points, or 1.1 percent.

The Nasdaq is down 23.19 points, or 0.8 percent.

For the year:

The Dow is up 839.90 points, or 6.9 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 144.48 points, or 11.5 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 448.25 points, or 17.2 percent.

Benchmark Currency Rates

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.2555	0.0127	1.5856	1.0454	1.0059	1.0426	0.1289
EUR	0.7965	–	0.0101	1.2629	0.8326	0.8011	0.8305	0.1027
JPY	78.5500	98.6200	–	124.5450	82.1110	79.0010	81.9020	10.1270
GBP	0.6307	0.7918	0.0080	–	0.6593	0.6344	0.6577	0.0813
CHF	0.9566	1.2010	0.0122	1.5168	–	0.9621	0.9973	0.1233
CAD	0.9942	1.2483	0.0127	1.5765	1.0393	–	1.0369	0.1282
AUD	0.9590	1.2041	0.0122	1.5208	1.0026	0.9647	–	0.1236
HKD	7.7567	9.7386	0.0987	12.2991	8.1088	7.8018	8.0879	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia