Wall Street rally triggers rebound Nov 6

A rally on Wall Street helped Asian markets rebound at the end of a volatile week yesterday but many dealers remained cautious ahead of key jobs figures in the world’s biggest economy.

TOKYO: Up 0.74 percent. The Nikkei-225 climbed 71.91 points to 9,789.35.

“Even if the market falls, the bottom is likely around 9,300″ points for the Nikkei, Mizuho Securities strategist Tsuyoshi Segawa told Dow Jones Newswires.

HONG KONG: Shares closed 1.63 percent higher yesterday following a rally on Wall Street.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 350.64 points to 21,829.72.

Financial companies were the biggest gainers, tracking US peers.

“Strong liquidity flows suggest a positive outlook for the Hong Kong stock market,” Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 1.10 percent higher yesterday, fuelled by overnight gains on Wall Street but there was some caution ahead of the release of US employment data, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index rose 28.86 points to 2,658.21.

Shares are expected to trade higher next week.

SYDNEY: Up 1.91 percent. The S&P/ASX200 gained 86.0 points to 4,594.0.

Dealers said the market opened higher on Wall Street’s lead and continued to gain after the Reserve Bank of Australia revised economic growth and inflation forecasts.

SHANGHAI: Up 0.28 percent. The composite index was up 8.98 points to 3,164.04, ending at its highest since August 11.

Property companies led the gains.

SEOUL: Up 1.30 percent. The Kospi ended up 20.22 points at 1,572.46.

“A sharp rebound of the US market certainly helped lift the Kospi,” Kim Joong-hyun, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp, said.

TAIPEI: Up 0.61 percent. The weighted index rose 45.59 points to 7,463.05.

However, citing the day’s “thin turnover”, Concord Securities analyst Allen Lin said that “Wall Street’s strong showing failed to call too many investors back to the trading floor”.

BANGKOK: Up 2.45 percent. The composite index rose 16.72 points to close at 698.63 while the blue-chip index climbed 13.72 points to 493.10.

“The market rebounded after foreign investors returned to buy heavily in energy stocks,” said Arparporn Sawaengpak, an analyst at DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand).

JAKARTA: Up 1.18 percent. The composite index gained 27.89 points to 2,395.10.

“A firmer rupiah and overnight gains on Wall Street improved buying sentiment on the local bourse,” a trader told Dow Jones Newswires.

KUALA LAMPUR: SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia rebounded within the post-Budget consolidation window over the last five trading days. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) re-penetrated its critical resistance of 1,250 points when it closed at 1,260.70 yesterday.

The FBM KLCI opened lower at 1,236.73 before recovering to close at its intra-day low of 1,241.76 on Monday, giving a day-on-day loss of 1.47 points, or 0.12 percent.

MANILA: Down 0.44 percent. The composite index lost 13.04 points to 2,931.47 while the all-share index fell 0.39 percent to 1,839.46 points.

“This is just a healthy correction for the market which has been going up for much of the week,” said Jun Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Inc.

MUMBAI: Up 0.59 percent. The 30-share Sensex rose 94.38 points to 16,158.28.

VIETNAM:
Ending the trading session November 6, the VN Index slipped 0.66 points or 0.12 percent to 544.88 pts. The liquidity increased with total trading volume of 56.8 million shares valued at nearly 2.7 trillion dong, up nearly 5 percent in volume and 13.7 percent in value from previous session.
Similarly, after two gains, the index of Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) today November 6 tumbled 1.13 points or 0.59 percent to 189.14 pts with the total market trade of nearly 35 million shares for over 1.5 trillion dong.

EUROPE:
LONDON: European shares closed higher yesterday for the third consecutive session after investors decided US monthly payroll data was not as bad as first feared, with banking stocks the major gainers.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed up 0.2 percent at 992.42 points in a choppy session.

Across Europe, the London FTSE 100 index gained 0.33 percent to end the week at 5,142.72 points.

In Paris the CAC was essentially flat, dipping 0.04 percent to 3,707.29, while in Frankfurt the Dax added 0.13 percent to reach 5,488.25 points.

AMERICA:
Investors undaunted by a surprisingly weak jobs report found enough positive news to nudge stocks higher Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 17.46, or 0.2 percent, to 10,023.42, boosting its gain for the week to 311 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.67, or 0.3 percent, to 1,069.30, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 7.12, or 0.3 percent, to 2,112.44.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 index added 3.2 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 3.3 percent.

Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.3 billion shares, compared with 4.9 billion Thursday.

Bond prices mostly climbed. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose, pushing its yield down to 3.51 percent from 3.53 percent late Thursday.

Oil fell $2.12 to settle at $77.87 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold rose $6.40 to settle at $1,095.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, adding 5.3 percent for the week.

Jeffrey Friedman, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a futures brokerage, said the jobs report is worrisome.

“We’re still losing jobs. 10.2 is not a good number. And in reality, it’s probably even higher,” he said.

Some analysts saw reasons for optimism such as a rise in the number of temporary service jobs. Companies that are reluctant to commit to hiring will often first bring in temps to meet demand until they’re more confident of a turnaround in the economy.

Linda Duessel, equity market strategist at Federated Investors, noted that payroll numbers turn higher an average of four and a half months after temp numbers begin to rise.

“We’ve been looking for temps to turn and they turned,” she said. “It’s good.”

Although investors found a few bright spots in the jobs report, the numbers did shake their confidence in the economic recovery, stoked Thursday by an encouraging outlook from Cisco Systems Inc., better data on productivity and higher sales at major retailers. The Dow jumped 203 points on the day’s string of good news to close above 10,000 for the first time in two weeks.

Thursday’s jump brought most of the week’s advance. The market rose Monday after improved manufacturing and housing figures raised expectations for the economy. Moves on Tuesday and Wednesday were modest.

Investors will have fewer economic reports to drive trading next week. A report due Friday on consumer sentiment will draw attention because traders are eager for any signals about how consumers will spend heading into the holiday season.

However, earnings reports from retailers including J.C. Penney Co., Macy’s Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will give investors more insight into how consumers are likely to behave in the coming months. Walt Disney Co.’s earnings may also provide clues about consumers.

Investors will also be tracking the ability of the government to raise money. The Treasury Department plans to auction $81 billion in debt next week. Analysts are watching for signs that demand is weakening for government debt because that could threaten stimulus spending and push interest rates higher.

In corporate news, Starbucks Corp. jumped $1.42, or 7.2 percent, to $21.12 after the coffee chain said late Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit rose and raised its fiscal 2010 earnings forecast because of an increase in customers.

GE advanced 90 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $15.33 after analysts raised their expectations for the company.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 0.80, or 0.1 percent, to 580.35.

Benchmark Currency Rates
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
HKD	7.7502	11.5071	0.0862	12.8749	7.6182	7.2071	7.1217	 
AUD	1.0882	1.6158	0.0121	1.8078	1.0697	1.012	 	0.1404
CAD	1.0754	1.5966	0.012	1.7864	1.057	 	0.9881	0.1388
CHF	1.0173	1.5105	0.0113	1.69	 	0.946	0.9348	0.1313
GBP	0.602	0.8938	0.0067	 	0.5917	0.5598	0.5531	0.0777
JPY	89.876	133.443	 	149.305	88.3458	83.5784	82.588	11.5967
EUR	0.6735	 	0.0075	1.1189	0.662	0.6263	0.6189	0.0869
USD	 	1.4848	0.0111	1.6612	0.983	0.9299	0.9189	0.129
                                                              Bloomberg

 

Category: Stocks