Asia stock market slips, EU falls and US gains Feb 11

Asian markets fell yesterday Wednesday February 11, led by Hong Kong, as investors made the most of previous gains while financial shares lost out after a bank rescue plan in the United States was met with disappointment.

The much anticipated plan announced by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday aimed to fortify the banking system by buying up so-called toxic debts and freeing up credit to increase lending. But critics said it lacked detail. Wall Street tumbled on the news, darkening sentiment in Asia.

SYDNEY: Down 0.4%. The S&P/ASX200 was down 14.3 points at 3474.4. “The market’s holding up much better than we had expected, especially given the carnage on Wall Street,” IG Markets research analyst Ben Potter said.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 2.5% lower yesterday on Wall Street’s negative reaction to a new bailout plan for the US banking sector and profit-taking in blue chips, dealers said. The Hang Seng Index ended down 341.43 points at 13,539.21.

SHANGHAI: Down 0.19%. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, fell 4.34 points to 2,260.82. Worries triggered by weak January trade data also spurred profit taking following three sessions of rises, traders said.

TAIPEI: Up 1.1%. The weighted index rose 49.85 points at 4,575.95. The market opened low but bargain hunting investors stepped in, leading share prices to recover the early loss.
SEOUL: Down 0.7%. The KOSPI ended 8.69 points lower at 1,190.18. “Investor frustration with the US bank rescue plan weighed on local stocks, but their losses were pared by optimism about South Korea’s exports,” Kim Sung-Joo, an analyst at Daewoo Securities, told Yonhap news agency. According to preliminary government data, exports surged 17% on-year in the first 10 days of this month.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 1.10% higher in cautious trading on concerns about weak corporate earnings, dealers said. The Straits Times Index rose 18.68 points to 1,721. 97.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) fell from its intra-day high of 899.88 to its intra-day low of 894.63 yesterday. The KLCI closed at 897.07 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 6.45 points, or 0.71%. Resorts World Bhd staged a mild technical rebound yesterday. Its daily price trend closed at RM2.32, giving a day-on-day gain of 7 sen, or 3.11.

BANGKOK: Up 0.21%. The SET rose 0.93 points to close at 444.10. Dealers said trading was lacklustre as investors preferred to remain on the sidelines amid persisting concerns over the global economy.

JAKARTA: Down 0.6%. The Jakarta Composite Index fell 7.31 points to 1,324.82. “The main index rebounded after it failed to break below the strong support level of 1,300″ a trader told Dow Jones Newswires.

MANILA: Down one%. The composite index lost 19.82 points to 1,897.75. Local share prices were reacting to “the export figures and what happened to the US market,” Rey Gregorio of Pan Asia Securities Corp said.

MUMBAI: Down 0.3%. The Sensex closed down 0.3% or 28.93 points at 9,618.54, snapping three days of gains.

EUROPE: European stocks fell as PSA Peugeot Citroen posted a loss and speculation grew that a US bank-rescue plan won’t revive credit markets and the economy. National benchmark indexes slipped in 11 of the 18 western European markets. In London, the FTSE 100 closed up 21.18 points at 4,234.26 after trading in a range around 4,200 all session. In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.23% to 3,027.72 while the Frankfurt Dax added 0.54% to end the day at 4,530.09.

USA: Stocks recovered gains on Wednesday after Democratic senators said negotiators have reached a deal on the stimulus bill designed to revive the recession-hit economy.

* In a choppy session, stocks had earlier fallen as energy shares fell alongside oil prices and tech shares stumbled after a weak outlook from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM.TO)(RIMM.O).

* The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) rose 66.90 points, or 0.85%, to 7,955.78. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) added 6.43 points, or 0.78%, to 833.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) was up 7.40 points, or 0.49%, at 1,532.13.

 

Category: Stocks