Asian shares were higher yesterday Friday Jan 8, lifted by gains on Wall Street as Japanese exporters were boosted by a lower yen in the wake of remarks by Japan's new finance minister.
A day after rattling markets with a call for a weaker currency, Naoto Kan said that markets should determine foreign exchange rates, but added Tokyo would intervene over a strong yen if needed.
Earlier, investors were cheered after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest level since October 2008 on better-than-expected sales results from retailers.
However, gains were capped by caution ahead of Friday's key unemployment data, seen as a barometer of US recovery.
Stock markets in Tokyo and Sydney hit highs not seen for more than a year. In Tokyo the Nikkei closed up 1.09 percent, or 116.66 points, to 10,798.32.
Sydney closed up 0.26 percent, or 12.7 points, with the S&P/ASX200 at 4,912.1 after peaking at its highest level for 15 months intraday.
Chinese shares rebounded to close up 3.22 points, or 0.10 percent, at 3,196.00 in choppy trade which saw a sell off in metal firms on lower commodity prices, as Beijing warned state-run firms about investment risk.
In November the dollar fell to around 85 yen, its lowest since the mid-1990s, raising fears for the country's export-led economy.
Exporters such as Toyota and Sony were lifted by the weaker yen. But Japan Airlines fell more than 10 percent as fears grew that it will file for bankruptcy.
"There is no point in holding JAL shares any longer," a trader at a Japanese brokerage said.
Seoul was 0.70 percent higher at 1,695.26 due to bargain hunting after a day of sell-offs brought about by the central bank holding interest rates steady.
Elsewhere, Taipei stocks closed up 0.53 percent. The weighted index added 43.48 points to 8,280.90. .
In Jakarta, Indonesian shares gained 27.47 points or 1.06 percent to 2,614.37.
Bangkok ended 0.59 percent, or 4.33 points, higher at 738.96.
In Manila, the composite index closed flat, down 0.6 points to 3,077.18 as investors took profits after a three-day rally.
New Zealand closed up 0.77 percent. The NZX-50 index rose 25.42 points to close at 3,310.23.
HONG KONG: Shares closed 0.12 percent higher yesterday in choppy trade following a strong overnight lead on Wall Street.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 27.3 points to 22,296.75, with turnover reaching HK$71.93 billion (100HK$ = RM43.56). Shares of Hutchison Telecom surged 28.5 percent yesterday after returning to trade following a suspension on Monday.
SINGAPORE: The benchmark Straits Times Index closed 0.22 percent higher yesterday.
Shares of Wilmar International rose 3.7 percent after Goldman Sachs added the firm to its conviction buy list.
Goldman analysts raised the target price of the stock to S$8.90 (S$1 = RM2.42) based on its position in agribusiness refining, and its proxy to Chinese consumer growth.
KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia exploded into flurry of actions immediately after the New Year holidays. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Composite Index (FBM KLCI) continued to stay above its critical support of 1,250 when it closed at 1,292.98 points yesterday.
The FBM KLCI opened relatively unchanged at 1,272.50 points before rebounding to close at the day's high of 1,275.75 on Monday, giving a day-on-day gain of 2.97 points, or 0.23 percent.
VIETNAM:
Closing the last session this week, the index of Hochiminh Stock Exchange (STC) tumbled 12.44 points or 2.33 percent to end at 520.9 pts. The transparency was recovered when the total trading volume reached 77 million shares worth 3.655 trillion dong, up 16 percent in both volume and value against previous session.
Negotiation transactions on STC reached over 8.5 million shares valued at over 250 billion dong, bringing the total trading volume in the stock market to over 84.7 million shares for over 3.884 trillion dong.
Conversely, the HNX Index regained 1.81 points or 1.02 percent to close at 179.76 pts with the total market trade of 43.83 million shares valued at 1.684 trillion dong, increasing 19.5 percent in volume and 27.2 percent in value in comparison with previous session.
EUROPE:
European shares rose to a fresh 15-month closing high yesterday, even after hopes of a stronger, faster recovery were hit after data showed US employers unexpectedly cut 85,000 jobs in December.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares rose 0.5 percent to end provisionally at 1,065.26 points, its highest close since early October, 2008.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares edged up 0.14 percent to 5,534.24 ponts.
In Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.51 percent to 4,045.14 points and in Frankfurt, the DAX put on 0.30 percent to 6,037.61 points.
AMERICA:
A disappointing jobs report couldn't stop the stock market from having a strong start to the new year.
Stocks zigzagged for much of Friday but closed higher as investors took in stride the Labor Department's news that employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, far more than the 8,000 analysts expected. The disappointing numbers were offset by a pleasant surprise: November's report was revised to show the first job gains in nearly two years.
The Dow rose 11.33, or 0.1 percent, to 10,618.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.29, or 0.3 percent, to 1,144.98, its fifth straight advance. The Dow and the S&P 500 index ended at their highest levels since Oct. 1, 2008.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 17.12, or 0.7 percent, to 2,317.17.
For the week, the Dow advanced 1.8 percent, the S&P 500 index jumped 2.7 percent and the Nasdaq added 2.1 percent. Most of the climb came Monday, the first trading day of the year, when improving news on manufacturing in China, the U.S. and Europe hinted at a strengthening global economy.
The climb for the week was a welcome sign for 2010. Of the last 36 times when the S&P 500 index carved gains in the first five days of January, it ended the year higher 31 times, or 86.1 percent of the time, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.
Next week, investors will get reports on retail sales and industrial production. A handful of corporate earnings reports from the final quarter of 2009 will start to arrive. Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. is scheduled to report its results after the closing bell on Monday and banker JPMorgan Chase & Co. reports on Friday.
In other trading, interest rates held in a narrow range on the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.84 percent from 3.83 percent late Thursday.
The dollar and gold both fell.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.59, or 0.4 percent, to 644.56.
Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume fell to 4.4 billion shares from 5.3 billion Thursday.
Benchmark Currency Rates
USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD HKD
HKD 7.756 11.1761 0.0837 12.4279 7.5765 7.5316 7.1724
AUD 1.0814 1.5582 0.0117 1.7327 1.0563 1.0501 0.1394
CAD 1.0298 1.4839 0.0111 1.6501 1.006 0.9523 0.1328
CHF 1.0237 1.4751 0.011 1.6403 0.9941 0.9467 0.132
GBP 0.6241 0.8993 0.0067 0.6096 0.606 0.5771 0.0805
JPY 92.656 133.513 148.467 90.5109 89.9748 85.6836 11.9463
EUR 0.694 0.0075 1.112 0.6779 0.6739 0.6418 0.0895
USD 1.441 0.0108 1.6024 0.9768 0.9711 0.9248 0.1289
Bloomberg
|
