Wall St rally, positive data boost Asian marts
A strong rally on Wall Street spurred by positive economic data in the US and China helped Asian markets power ahead yesterday Tuesday Jan 5.
Commodities stocks were the main gainers as crude oil pushed well past the US$80 mark on the back of upbeat sentiment over the global recovery as well as the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere.
Tokyo shares closed up 0.25 per cent at 10,681.83, while Hong Kong finished 2.09 per cent up at 22,279.58.
“Overall sentiment is upbeat,” Tsuyoshi Kawata, senior strategist at Nikko Cordial Securities in Japan, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Shanghai closed 1.18 per cent up on 3,282.18 and Sydney was 0.98 per cent higher at 4,924.30, pushed by resources firms thanks to the rally in crude.
However, Seoul bucked the trend, closing 0.33 per cent lower on concerns about earnings prospects for local exporters as the South Korean won gained against the greenback.
On Monday Wall Street jumped 1.50 per cent on the first day of trade for the New Year as dealers welcomed December manufacturing data showing the strongest pace of activity by US industry since April 2006.
That followed news on Monday that two PMI surveys in China had shown strong growth.
“After the pace of global expansion in manufacturing activity cooled in November it has accelerated again in the final month of 2009, raising hopes that growth in 2010 will be much better than last year,” NAB Capital analysts wrote in a note.
“This has buoyed stock markets, pushed commodity prices higher and increased the likelihood that global economic growth will continue to exceed that in the US by a comfortable margin, weighing on the greenback,” it added.
Elsewhere, Wellington stocks ended 1.18 per cent stronger at a 15-month high of 3,268.19, while Manila added 0.78 per cent to 3,028.46.
Jakarta added 1.16 per cent to 2,605.27 and Taipei closed flat at 8,211.40.
In Bangkok, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index also ended flat at 732.11 points.
Indian shares closed up 0.73 per cent, their third straight day of gains led by metal and commodity stocks.
The 30-share benchmark Sensex closed up 127.51 points at 17,686.24, a 21-month-high, with India’s largest aluminium producer Hindalco up 7.39 per cent, or 12.05 rupees to 175.2.
HONG KONG: Shares closed 2.09 per cent up yesterday as investors followed a strong lead on Wall Street and other regional markets.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 456.30 points to 22,279.58, with turnover reaching HK$82.97 billion.
SINGAPORE: The benchmark Straits Times Index was 0.86 per cent higher as of 0750 GMT yesterday.
Shares of City Developments rose as much as 4.7 per cent on increased confidence about Singapore’s property market. Around 0750 GMT, shares of CityDev were up 4.5 per cent at S$12.06 with nearly 4 million shares changing hands.
KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia rebounded broadly higher on the second trading day yesterday. Its overall advancing counters outpaced its declining counters by 658 to 184.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) rebounded from its intra-day low of 1,278.26 to its intra-day high of 1,290.55 yesterday. It closed at 1,288.24 points, giving a day-on-day gain of 12.49 points, or 0.98 per cent.
VIETNAM:
After the first impressive significant session in 2010 with lots of supporting information, VN Index kept surpassing the threshold of 530 points, despite the offloading pressure.
At closing time, VN Index surged by 15.48 points or 2.99% to 532.53 points. It was the 10th point-gaining session among the latest 12 trading sessions. The market liquidity improved significantly with total matching order trade of over 66.6 million shares worth over 2.873 trillion dong, increasing by 58.4% in volume and 64.5% in value against the previous session.
Sharing the same scenario, HNX Index increased by 3.42 points or 1.9% to end at 183.26 points with the total market trade of 32.276 million shares valued 1.329 trillion dong.
EUROPE:
European shares closed lower yesterday, with drugmakers falling on news France was cancelling flu shot orders overshadowing gains in banks on talk that Barclays may lift its outlook.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed down 0.1 per cent at 1,060.14 points in choppy trade.
London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares was up 0.40 per cent to 5,522.5 points.
In Paris, the CAC 40 was unchanged, slipping 0.03 per cent at 4,012.91 points and in Frankfurt, the DAX was down 0.27 per cent to 6,031.86 points.
AMERICA:
Investors turned cautious on the second trading day of the year as a pair of economic reports gave mixed signals about how the recovery was going.
The Dow industrials slipped 11.94, or 0.1 percent, to 10,572.02. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 3.53, or 0.3 percent, to 1,136.52, its highest close since Oct. 1, 2008. The Nasdaq composite index edged up 0.29, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,308.71.
Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume rose to 5.2 billion shares from 4.1 billion Monday.
Bond prices rose, pushing interest rates lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.76 percent from 3.83 percent late Monday.
Crude oil rose 26 cents to settle at $81.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The early days of January are when many investors, from pension funds to individuals, pump money into the markets as they set up their investment strategies for the year. Markets often rise as the new money arrives.
However Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research at MF Global in Chicago, said investors are cautious ahead of reports on the service industry and employment later in the week because they want to confirm that economy is healing.
“There is a lot of data out the next couple of days that people want to see before they chase a market at its highs,” Kalivas said.
The Institute for Supply Management will report its index of activity in the service industry on Wednesday, and on Friday the market will get the most important economic reading of the month, the Labor Department’s employment report.
Ford Motor Co.’s shares jumped after the automaker said its December sales jumped 33 percent fed by demand for midsize cars like the Ford Fusion, whose sales rose 83 percent. Ford also had its first full-year gain in U.S. market share since 1995. Ford rose 68 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $10.96.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.61, or 0.3 percent, to 638.49.
Benchmark Currency Rates
USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD HKD
HKD 7.756 11.1334 0.0846 12.388 7.4979 7.4542 7.0747
AUD 1.0963 1.5737 0.012 1.751 1.0598 1.0536 0.1413
CAD 1.0405 1.4936 0.0114 1.6619 1.0059 0.9491 0.1342
CHF 1.0344 1.4849 0.0113 1.6522 0.9942 0.9436 0.1334
GBP 0.6261 0.8987 0.0068 0.6053 0.6017 0.5711 0.0807
JPY 91.662 131.576 146.403 88.6111 88.095 83.6095 11.8181
EUR 0.6966 0.0076 1.1127 0.6735 0.6695 0.6354 0.0898
USD 1.4354 0.0109 1.5972 0.9667 0.9611 0.9122 0.1289
Bloomberg
Category: Stocks
