Asia shares rise on better Japan output data

Asian markets rose yesterday as dealers welcomed data out of Japan showing a better-than-expected rise in manufacturing output, while sentiment was also buoyed by a Wall Street rally.

Factory production in April rose 5.2 percent on the previous month, the fastest monthly jump in more than half a century and manufacturers forecast the figure to rise 8.8 percent in May and 2.7 percent in June.

Markets were also boosted by gains in oil companies as crude moved further up, trading at six-month highs around US$65.

Shanghai and Taiwan were closed for public holidays.

TOKYO: Up 0.75 percent. The Nikkei-225 rose 71.11 points to 9,522.50, the highest finish since October 15.
The market was helped by a string of mixed Japanese data and a late spurt of buying by oil and commodity investors.

SYDNEY: Up 1.7 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 62.2 points to 3,817.9.
The market was “remarkably strong” and buoyed by gains in Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac after a positive lead from Wall Street, Ord Minnett private client adviser Jon Hancock said.

HONG KONG: SHARE prices closed 1.60 percent higher yesterday as investor confidence remained bullish, with Chinese energy giant CNOOC leading the surge, dealers said.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 285.73 points at 18,171.00.
Turnover was high at HK$92.17 billion.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 1.57 percent higher yesterday, propelled by surges on major regional bourses and Wall Street, dealers said.
The blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) closed up 36.11 points at 2,329.08 on volume of 3 billion shares worth S$2.64 billion.
Gainers led losers 457 to 166, with 658 issues unchanged.

SEOUL: Up 0.27 percent. The KOSPI ended up 3.72 points at 1,395.89.
Foreign buying outweighed concerns over instability on the Korean peninsula.

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia consolidated on their sideways courses over the four trading days. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) continued to stay above its major psychological support of 1,000 when it closed at 1,044.11 points yesterday.
The KLCI opened lower at 1,047.40 points before rebounding to its intra-day high of 1,054.40 on Monday. It closed at 1,053.14 points, giving a day-on-day gain of 7.88 points, or 0.75 percent.
The KLCI opened higher at 1,053.61 before rebounding high to its intra-day high of 1,057.42 on Tuesday. It closed at 1,051.63 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 1.51 points, or 0.14 percent

BANGKOK: Up 0.90 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index gained 4.98 points to close at 560.41.
The market was boosted by speculative buying of energy stocks, analysts said.

JAKARTA: Up 0.73 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index gained 13.96 points to 1,916.83.
The index was led by buying in commodity-related stocks, dealers said.

MANILA: Up 1.48 percent. The composite index rose 34.94 points to 2,389.31.
Investors were boosted by optimism that the worst of the global financial crisis may be over, dealers said.

WELLINGTON: Up 1.55 percent. The NZX-50 rose 42.20 points to 2,764.17.

MUMBAI: Up 2.3 percent. The 30-share Sensex rose 329.24 points to 14,625.25, a near nine-month high.
Sentiment was lifted after the government said the economy grew by a better-than-expected 6.7 percent in the past fiscal year, dealers said. -

VIETNAM: The VN Index fell 0.91 percent down to 411.61 pts with a total market trade of 47.79 million shares worth 1.446 trillion dong.
The HASTC Index accelerated to 144.13 points today, up 1.83 percent or 1.29 points against the previous session with the total trading volume of 27,549,500 shares for about 761.429 billion dong.

EUROPE: Europe’s main stock markets closed firmer yesterday, with a mixed set of data taken on balance to mean that prospects for recovery from the global slump remain intact.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares rose 0.2 percent to a close of 862.17 points.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares finished up 0.69 percent at 4,417.94 points.
In Frankfurt, the DAX added 0.16 percent to 4,490.82 points and in Paris the CAC 40 rose 0.43 percent to 3,277.65 points.

AMERICA: Stocks shot higher right before the closing bell Friday after fluctuating on a mix of economic data. Analysts said the surge was the work of short-sellers who had bet that stocks would fall and then had to rush to buy when those bets turned out to be wrong.

A jump in commodities prices, which came on expectations that an improving economy will lift demand for raw materials, also fed the advance.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96.53, or 1.2 percent, to 8,500.33. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 12.31, or 1.4 percent, to 919.14, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 22.54, or 1.3 percent, to 1,774.33.
All three indexes rose sharply for the week and, more importantly, had their third straight monthly gain. The Dow is up 4.1 percent for May, the S&P 500 index is up 5.3 percent, and the Nasdaq is up 3.3 percent.
Wall Street’s advance since it hit 12-year lows on March 9 has been stunning, even with the unsteadiness the market has shown in May.

The Dow is up 29.8 percent, while the S&P 500 index is up 35.9 percent and the Nasdaq is higher by 39.9 percent.
Even with those gains, stocks are still down from their peak in October 2007, two months before the start of the recession. The Dow is off 40 percent, the S&P 500 index is lower by 41.3 percent and the Nasdaq is down by 37.9 percent.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 9.37, or 1.9 percent, to 501.58.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining stocks by more than 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.84 billion shares, up from Thursday’s 5.59 billion.

Oil prices have been jumping to six-month highs as the dollar tumbles. Light, sweet crude rose $1.23 to settle at $66.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold and silver prices rose as well.

Benchmark Currency Rates
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
HKD	7.7522	10.9756	0.0813	12.5505	7.2662	7.1021	6.2099
AUD	1.2484	1.7674	0.0131	2.021	1.1701	1.1437	 	0.161
CAD	1.0915	1.5454	0.0114	1.7671	1.0231	 	0.8744	0.1408
CHF	1.0669	1.5105	0.0112	1.7272	 	0.9774	0.8546	0.1376
GBP	0.6177	0.8745	0.0065	 	0.579	0.5659	0.4948	0.0797
JPY	95.34	134.9824	154.350	89.3625	87.3445	76.3721	12.2984
EUR	0.7063	 	0.0074	1.1435	0.662	0.6471	0.5658	0.0911
USD	 	1.4158	0.0105	1.619	0.9373	0.9161	0.801	0.129
                                                              Bloomberg

 

Category: Stocks