Asian markets retreat as cautious mood sets in Oct 21

Asian markets slipped yesterday Wednesday Oct 21 as a Wall Street tumble led to profit-taking, while dealers also awaited key economic data out of China and Japan.

The falls follow broad gains after recent third-quarter corporate figures beat expectations.

TOKYO: Flat. The Nikkei-225 edged down 3.45 points, or 0.03 percent, to 10,333.39.

“Macro data from China and Japan will likely determine how exporters and shippers perform,” Tomochika Kitaoka, strategist at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

HONG KONG: Shares ended 0.30 percent lower yesterday amid profit-taking following a tumble on Wall Street.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index finished 66.85 points down at 22,318.11. The drop followed two successive rallies.

Analysts expect good liquidity to continue in the near term although a lack of fundamentals will limit this, dealers said.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 0.68 percent lower yesterday as investors turned cautious, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 18.54 points to 2,692.55.

“Jittery markets are making investors cautious and confused,” analysts from SIAS Research said. “Most investors will be looking for a definitive direction before entering the market.

SYDNEY: Down 0.16 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 lost 7.6 points to 4,838.6.

“While materials were the weakest performer over the session, the orderly drifting in prices suggests the market has one eye on China’s September economic data (due out today),” said IG Markets analyst Ben Potter.

SHANGHAI: Down 0.45 percent. The composite index was down 13.87 points to 3,070.59.

Traders said investors had taken profits on auto and insurance shares following the overnight decline in New York.

SEOUL: Down 0.32 percent. The Kospi ended down 5.29 points at 1,653.86.

“The market’s reaction to solid earnings is tepid as investors think such good earnings are already priced in while (they) remain uncertain about earnings in coming quarters,” an analyst said.

TAIPEI: Down 0.67 percent. The weighted index dropped 52.02 points to 7,701.50.

Investors stayed away ahead of China’s data release.

BANGKOK: Down 1.27 percent. The composite index dropped 9.25 points to close at 716.35, while the blue-chip index lost 7.42 points to 509.71.

“I think the foreign investors are still taking profits, which is not surprising as they feel our political and economic recovery is still uncertain,” said Therdsak Thaweetheeratham, an analyst at Asia Plus Securities.

JAKARTA: Down 1.02 percent. The composite index lost 25.43 points to 2,476.79.

“The bearish trend in the Asian markets also weighed down sentiment on the local bourse,” a trader told Dow Jones Newswires.

KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia paused for a technical breather, in step with the weak performances on regional stock markets yesterday. Its overall declining counters overwhelmed advancing counters by 519 to 214.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) fell from its intra-day high of 1,270.44 to its intra-day low of 1,260.06 yesterday. It closed at 1,260.06 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 5.68 points, or 0.45 percent.

MANILA: Down 0.86 percent. The index slipped 25.36 points to 2,919.90.

“It’s primarily due to the weaker US market. Across the region, we are also seeing some weakness in share prices,” said Lawrence de Leon of Accord Capital Equities Inc.

MUMBAI: Down 1.24 percent. The 30-share Sensex fell 213.84 points to 17,009.17.

EUROPE:
LONDON: European shares closed higher yesterday, with oils gaining as crude rose to more than US$80 (US$1 = RM3.39) a barrel, and as US companies continued to beat forecasts for third-quarter earnings.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares rose 0.5 percent to close at 1,025.88 points.

In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.28 percent to 5,257.85 points while in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.05 percent to 3,873.22 points. The Frankfurt Dax added 0.37 percent to finish at 5,833.49 points.

AMERICA:
Spooked traders unraveled a stock market rally late Wednesday as worries mounted about banks and a jump in the price of oil.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 92 points after having risen 78 points earlier in the day to a new high for the year.

Analysts say a downbeat note from influential banking analyst Richard Bove raised concerns about Wells Fargo and sent investors rushing to dump financial stocks

The dollar fell to its lowest level against the euro since August 2008, lifting oil to a 2009 high.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.12, or 0.9 percent, to 9,949.36.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 9.66, or 0.9 percent, to 1,081.40, after reaching 1,101.36, its highest level in the past year. The Nasdaq composite index fell 12.74, or 0.6 percent, to 2,150.73.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.4 billion shares compared with 1.2 billion Tuesday.

Dan Deming, a trader with Strutland Equities in Chicago, said the S&P 500′s move above 1,100 made some investors uneasy about the market’s rise. The index is up 59.9 percent from a 12-year low in early March.

Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.39 percent from 3.34 percent late Tuesday.

The day’s drop came as crude oil rose $2.25 to settle at $81.37 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar weakened. Commodities are priced in dollars, making them cheaper for overseas buyers when the greenback slides.

If energy prices rise too far it could make it harder for the economy to recover by raising transportation and other costs.

In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 8.30, or 1.4 percent, to 605.11.

Benchmark Currency Rates
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
HKD	7.7501	11.6378	0.0852	12.8791	7.7046	7.4259	7.1921	 
AUD	1.0776	1.6181	0.0118	1.7907	1.0713	1.0325	 	0.139
CAD	1.0436	1.5672	0.0115	1.7343	1.0375	 	0.9685	0.1347
CHF	1.0059	1.5105	0.0111	1.6716	 	0.9638	0.9335	0.1298
GBP	0.6018	0.9036	0.0066	 	0.5982	0.5766	0.5584	0.0776
JPY	90.965	136.597	 	151.166	90.4315	87.1604	84.4155	11.7373
EUR	0.6659	 	0.0073	1.1067	0.662	0.6381	0.618	0.0859
USD	 	1.5016	0.011	1.6618	0.9941	0.9582	0.928	0.129
                                                              Bloomberg

 

Category: Stocks