Asia Roundup: Mood still buoyant

Asian markets rose in quiet trade yesterday Tuesday August 14 following a muted lead from Wall Street, while sentiment remained high on expectations of policy moves by central banks in Europe, China and the United States.

With few catalysts flowing in from Monday, eyes were on the release of key data in France, Germany and the US for clues on the state of the global economy.

Shares in Tokyo closed higher despite a lack of fresh trading cues. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index ended 44.73 points, or 0.50 per cent, up at 8,929.88, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.35 per cent, or 2.58 points, to 749.53.

Bargain buying helped buoy the market as Japan’s Obon holiday sees many businesses close their doors for the week.

Chinese shares closed up 0.30 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 6.45 points to 2,142.53.

“It’s probably a technical rebound after steep falls yesterday (Monday),” Zhang Qi, an analyst at Haitong Securities, said.

Seoul rose 1.27 per cent, or 24.52 points, to 1,956.96, while Sydney was up 0.21 per cent, or 8.9 points, to close at 4,292.2.

“The pre-conditions for our market rising further will require positive developments in China, the US and Europe,” said RBS Morgans principal investment adviser Christopher Macdonald in Australia.

HONG KONG:  STOCKS climbed 1.05 per cent yesterday on expectations that China will soon introduce more monetary easing measures to boost economic growth. The late-session surge was also prompted by better-than-expected economic data out of Germany and France.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 210.32 points to end at a three-month high of 20,291.68.
“Nobody is looking beyond the short-term right now,” said Hong Hao, chief equity strategist at Bank of Communications International Securities. “Volatility is dropping, suggesting there’s no real commitment to the rally.”

SINGAPORE:  MOST Southeast Asian stock markets ended higher yesterday buoyed by strength in large-cap banks and commoditiy-related stocks such as Singapore’s Noble Group Ltd, sending the benchmark index here to a one-year closing high.
The Straits Times Index was up 0.75 per cent, or 23.03 points, to end at 3,087.84.
Shares in Noble surged 12 per cent after it reported a 39.3 per cent rise in its April-June net profit.
Among other active stocks DBS Bank was up 0.67 per cent to S$14.98 and Singapore Telecom fell 0.89 per cent to S$3.36.

KUALA LUMPUR:  SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed higher yesterday as the market moved into positive territory in late afternoon trading in tandem with advances in regional markets, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa MalaysiaKLCI (FBM KLCI) advanced 6.58 points to a new-all-time-high of 1,652.90.
Dealers said market sentiment was boosted by expectations of stimulus measures by central banks globally to boost economic growth.
The Finance Index surged 27.67 points to 14,816.79, the Industrial Index surged 28.34 points to 2,917.96 and the Plantation Index rose 2.29 points to 8,731.01.

In other markets:

* Manila closed 0.11 per cent, or 5.84 points, lower at 5,265.94.

* Taipei climbed 0.58 per cent, or 42.95 points, to 7,479.25.

* Bangkok rose 0.61 per cent, or 7.45 points, to 1,226.82.

* Jakarta rose 0.46 per cent, or 19.03 points, to 4,121.56.

* Mumbai gained 0.54 per cent, or 94.75 points, to 17,728.20.

VIETNAM: Vietnamese shares continued to close up today with support from heavy trading with rising price in MBB and ceiling performance of VNM.
The benchmark VN Index added 3.3 points or 0.77% to 429.47. Volume rose 69.4% to 50.53 million shares worth of VND1,003 billion. Put through trading contribute 5.9 million shares worth of VND303.39 billion.
The VN30 rose 4.37 points or 0.86%, to 513.36.  Amongst its 30 members, 19 gained, 6 lost and 5 unchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX bucked trend, rose 0.36 point or 0.51% to 70.32. Trading volume rose 6.5% to 33.4 million shares worth VND297.3 billion.
HNX30 rose 0.59 point or 0.44% to 134.17.

EUROPE: European stocks rose in morning trade yesterday, reversing the previous session’s dip and resuming their three-week rise as tepid growth figures from Europe strengthened the case for further stimulus measures from the region’s policymakers.
At 1042 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.5 per cent at 1,099.80 points. The eurozone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was up 0.6 per cent at 2,430.43.
London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.52 per cent to 5,862.08 points approaching midday. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 won 0.81 per cent to 6,965.82 and Paris’ CAC 40 rose 0.50 per cent to 3,443.65. Madrid increased by 0.82 per cent and Milan was up 0.52 per cent.

AMERICA: Shoppers are starting to spend, but business owners aren’t so sure their customers will keep coming back.

These conflicting signals confused investors, who first bought stocks and then sold them as the day progressed Tuesday. It didn’t help that there were fewer stock traders in the market as is common during the summer months, which led to lower than usual trading volume.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 2.71 points at 13,172.14. It was up as much as 53 points at midday. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 0.18 point to 1,403.93 and the Nasdaq composite index fell 5.54 points to 3,016.98.

Earlier, investors were energized by a surprise gain in retail sales in July. That report provided evidence that American shoppers are still spending even as their counterparts in Europe and Asia slow down.

However, another report showed that U.S. companies weren’t restocking their shelves or their warehouses fast enough, a signal that they believed shoppers weren’t going to continue spending.

U.S. retail sales rose in July by the largest amount in five months as Americans spent more on cars, furniture and clothes. The 0.8 percent gain was better than analysts were expecting and showed that U.S. consumers spend at stores after cutting back in the April to June period.

Investors did sell low-risk assets, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 1.73 percent from 1.66 percent late Monday.

Stocks were held back by a report that U.S. companies barely increased their inventories in June. The slower restocking trend could act as a drag on overall economic growth. When businesses place fewer orders, factory production slows.

The number of declining stocks narrowly outpaced rising ones on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was very light at 2.9 billion shares.

Among other stocks that also made big moves:

— Groupon plummeted 27 percent. The online coupon company’s stock closed at an all-time low of $5.51, down $2.04 after its sales growth fell short of expectations partly due to worsening conditions in Europe.

— Estee Lauder rose $5.12, or 9 percent, to $60.13. The beauty company, whose brands include MAC and Aveda, reported results that topped Wall Street expectations. The company also raised its revenue forecast for the year.

— NCR Corp. fell close to 10 percent following allegations that the ATM maker has violated sanctions and a federal corruption law by operating a subsidiary in Syria and working with blacklisted banks in the country. NCR’s stock was off $2.47 at $22.65.

Benchmark Currency Rates

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.2324	0.0127	1.5664	1.0259	1.0076	1.0471	0.1289
EUR	0.8114	–	0.0103	1.2710	0.8325	0.8176	0.8496	0.1046
JPY	78.8600	97.1800	–	123.5410	80.9020	79.4530	82.5600	10.1660
GBP	0.6384	0.7867	0.0081	–	0.6550	0.6432	0.6684	0.0823
CHF	0.9747	1.2012	0.0124	1.5268	–	0.9821	1.0205	0.1257
CAD	0.9924	1.2229	0.0126	1.5546	1.0182	–	1.0391	0.1280
AUD	0.9551	1.1771	0.0121	1.4962	0.9798	0.9624	–	0.1231
HKD	7.7567	9.5596	0.0984	12.1507	7.9584	7.8158	8.1219	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia