Asian shares began the third quarter mixed yesterday as a Japanese business confidence survey was met with disappointment, but positive manufacturing data from China gave further indication of recovery.
Some markets took their cue from Wall Street which slipped on Tuesday after a surprise fall in US consumer confidence dented hopes for a recovery in spending to lead the country out of recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 81.85 points, or 0.96 percent, to 8,447.53 at the market close.
TOKYO: Down 0.19 percent. The Nikkei-225 index lost 18.51 points to end at 9,939.93, a day after ending at a two-week high. There was a muted response to the quarterly Tankan survey, which rose to minus 48 in June from a record low of minus 58 in March.
SYDNEY: Down 2.05 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 shed 80.9 points to 3,874.0. Four major banks led the market lower, with resources shares also losing ground.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.83 percent higher yesterday, boosted by a strong opening in most European markets, dealers said.
The Straits Times Index advanced 19.41 points to 2,352.55. Volume traded totalled 764 million shares worth S$676.70 million.
There were 233 rising issues, 161 losers while 868 stocks were even.
SHANGHAI: Up 1.65 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,008.15.The index breached 3,000 points for the first time in more than a year and closed at its highest level since June 11 2008, when it finished at 3,024.24.
TAIPEI: Up 2.28 percent. The weighted index rose 146.81 points to 6,578.97. The market opened high and outperformed other markets in the region, spurred by the lifting of the decades-old ban on investment here by Chinese individuals and businesses, analysts said.
SEOUL: Up 1.55 percent. The KOSPI index ended up 21.59 points at 1,411.66. Better-than-expected trade data helped boost the local bourse, with a record surplus of US$7.4 billion posted in June, said an analyst..
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia continued to consolidate in choppy trades in line with the weak market sentiment on the regional stock markets yesterday. Its overall declining counters continued to outpace its advancing counters by 368 to 219.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) rebounded from its intra-day low of 1,071.38 before closing at its intra-day high of 1,079.40 points yesterday, giving a day-on-day gain of 4.16 points, or 0.39 percent.
JAKARTA: Up 1.63 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index gained 33.1 points to 2,059.88. Indonesia's inflation eased sharply in June to 3.65 percent on-year and 0.11 percent on-month, the government statistics agency said.
MANILA: Down 0.21 percent. The composite index fell 5.10 points to 2,432.89. Alliance Global Group Inc dropped 3.63 percent to 2.65 while Energy Development Corp. slipped 1.26 percent to 3.90.
WELLINGTON: Down 0.56 percent. The NZX-50 index fell 15.74 points to 2,780.37.
MUMBAI: Up 1.05 percent. The benchmark 30-share Sensex gained 151.63 points to 14,645.47.
VIETNAM: The VN Index continued slumping by 18.29 points or 4.08 percent against the previous session to close at 430 points, marking the third consecutive point-losing session.
The HNX Index on the northern floor kept dipping by 6.54 points or 4.39 percent to end at 142.5 points with a total market trade of 20.683 million shares changing hands for 680.817 billion dong in value.
EUROPE: European equities ended the first session of the quarter in positive territory, with strong metals prices yesterday boosting mining shares, while banks rose after slipping in four of the past seven days.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 1.8 percent higher at 865.66 points after falling 1.1 percent on the last day of the second quarter.
The London FTSE 100 index added 2.15 percent to close at 4,340.71 points while in Paris the CAC 40 rose 2.43 percent to reach 3,217. The Frankfurt Dax gained 2.0 percent to end the session at 4,905.44.
AMERICA: Investors kicked off the stock market's third quarter with a moderate gain after getting some reassuring data on manufacturing and housing.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose by 0.7 percent Wednesday, rebounding from the previous day's selloff that was triggered by a drop in consumer confidence. Other indexes made moderate advances as well.
Much of Wednesday's data was positive, including a report showing more stable manufacturing activity in the United States, and another indicating the fourth straight monthly rise in pending home sales. Stocks also got a boost from European markets, which rose following similarly upbeat manufacturing data in that region.
Not all of the economic news was upbeat, however. Construction spending fell in May by more than the market expected, and according to the ADP National Employment Report, the private sector lost more jobs in June than anticipated.
The Dow rose 57.06, or 0.7 percent, to 8,504.06. It climbed as high as 8,580.47 in earlier trading, but then pared its gains as the day went on.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.01, or 0.4 percent, to 923.33. The Nasdaq composite index rose 10.68, or 0.6 percent, to 1,845.72.
About three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to a lower-than-usual 4 billion shares, versus 4.9 billion shares the day before.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 9.18, or 1.8 percent, to 517.46.
Light, sweet crude fell 58 cents to $69.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Benchmark Currency Rates
USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD HKD
HKD 7.7502 10.9484 0.0802 12.7666 7.2015 6.7414 6.2548
AUD 1.2391 1.7504 0.0128 2.0411 1.1513 1.0778 0.1599
CAD 1.1496 1.6241 0.0119 1.8938 1.0682 0.9278 0.1483
CHF 1.0762 1.5203 0.0111 1.7728 0.9361 0.8685 0.1389
GBP 0.6071 0.8576 0.0063 0.5641 0.528 0.4899 0.0783
JPY 96.579 136.4323 159.089 89.7408 84.0073 77.9441 12.4614
EUR 0.7079 0.0073 1.1661 0.6578 0.6157 0.5713 0.0913
USD 1.4126 0.0104 1.6472 0.9292 0.8698 0.807 0.129
Bloomberg
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