Asian Stocks Rise Amid Greece Hopes
HONG KONG: Asian stock markets rose Wednesday amid growing hopes of a solution to Greece’s financial crisis.
Major markets added less than 1 percent as the region extended its gains for a fourth straight day. The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro, while oil prices were little changed.
Worries about Greece’s ability to stabilize its finances have eased in recent days amid speculation European leaders will orchestrate a bailout and the government will take needed steps to reduce its mountain of debt.
Greece’s prime minister is set to announce deeper spending cuts later Wednesday. If the measures are tough enough, that could pave the way for a lifeline when Greek and German leaders meet on Friday, analysts said.
Further helping sentiment were overnight gains in the U.S., where stocks rose a third day amid renewed confidence that business leaders expect the economic recovery to stick.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average edged up 15.63 points, or 0.2 percent, to 10,237.47.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.2 percent at 1,618.86 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed at 20,911.97.
Elsewhere, Australia’s market rose 0.7 percent, lifted by news the country’s economy expanded quickly last quarter. Indian stocks added 0.7 percent and Shanghai’s market was 0.4 percent higher.
In currencies, the dollar fell to 88.68 yen from 88.80 yen. The euro strengthened to $1.3647 from 1.3615.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 3 cents to $79.71 a barrel in Asia. The contract rose 98 cents to settle at $79.68 on Tuesday.
In the U.S. Tuesday, the Dow rose 2.19, or less than 0.1 percent, to 10,405.98. It is up 85 points in three days and is at its highest level since Jan. 20.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.60, or 0.2 percent, to 1,118.31, and the Nasdaq rose 7.22, or 0.3 percent, to 2,280.79.
Asian Stocks Miss ‘Santa Claus Rally’
TOKYO : Japanese and Chinese stocks fell back Friday in subdued trade as investors took profits, with many players in the region away for the Christmas holidays.
Investors were in a cautious mood despite fresh gains on Wall Street that lifted US stocks to fresh 2009 highs Thursday.
Tokyo shares declined for the first day in four as investors locked in gains a day after the market hit a three-month high.
Chinese shares were pressured by concerns of possible policy tightening measures, dealers said.
Markets in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea were closed for a public holiday.
TOKYO: Down 0.40 percent. The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index fell 42.21 points to 10,494.71.
The latest reports on Asia’s largest economy, showing a rise in the jobless rate and stubborn deflation, injected a note of caution into the market as the year-end approaches.
Turnover was thin at only about 1.2 billion shares, the lowest level for a full trading day in 2009, with many investors away for year-end holidays.
“The market gained quite sharply recently, so it was time for a break,” Daiwa Securities SMBC market analyst Yumi Nishimura told Dow Jones Newswires.
The dollar’s firmness against the yen limited the market’s downside, however, dealers said. A weaker yen raises competitiveness of Japanese products overseas and boosts repatriated earnings.
“Whether the Nikkei can test further upside beyond 10,500 in coming sessions is mostly up to dollar-yen movements,” said Meiwa Securities senior market analyst Masayoshi Yano.
SHANGHAI. Down 0.38 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, dropped 12.06 points to 3,141.35 on thin trading volume.
“The shrinking turnover shows investors are cautious and have little interest in trading before market liquidity returns to abundant levels,” said Li Xianming, an analyst at Ping An Securities.
Worries are growing that Beijing will take steps next year to cool the Chinese economy, dealers said.
“There are concerns Beijing may take measures early next year, such as raising the reserve requirement ratio to counter inflationary pressure,” said Capital Securities analyst Jacky Zhang.
Banks and property developers led the losses. China Merchants Bank fell 1.7 percent to 16.40 yuan, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.39 percent to 5.14 yuan while China Vanke lost 0.6 percent to 13.22 yuan.
However, steel makers rose on hopes for further mergers in the sector after China announced plans to consolidate several iron and steel smelters to create one globally competitive company and two or three domestic leaders.
Angang Steel rose 1.0 percent to 15.10 yuan while Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel ended up 0.2 percent at 8.99 yuan.
TAIPEI: Up 0.11 percent. The weighted index rose 9.05 points to 7,972.59.
Profit-taking reduced early gains sparked by Wall Street reaching a 2009 high overnight, dealers said.
“It was no surprise that the pressure pulled the index back to some extent,” Taiwan International Securities analyst Michael Chiang said, attributing the decline to technical factors.
In fact, market sentiment has improved after US jobless benefit claims fell to a 15-month low, Chiang said.
“Optimism towards global economic fundamentals is gathering steam. I think the market will continue to go higher after digesting the pressure around 8,000 points,” he said.
BANGKOK: Up 0.44 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index rose 3.20 points to close at 730.41
Trading was sluggish with most market participants absent, said Sukit Udomsirikul, an analyst at Siam City Securities.
Among market bluechips coal producer Banpu rose 4.00 baht to close at 576.00 baht, Bangkok Bank was up 0.50 baht to 116.50 baht and Kasikornbank edged up 0.25 baht to 85.00 baht.
PTT Plc gained 3.00 baht to close 241.00 baht, and its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production rose 1.50 baht to 145.00 baht and Siam Cement rose 2.00 baht to 236.00.
Asian Stocks Miss ‘Santa Claus Rally’ was first posted on December 25, 2009 at 9:17 pm.
Oil Prices Drift Lower in International Market
Oil prices drifted lower Thursday as markets awaited the US August jobs report Friday for clues on the direction of the world’s biggest economy and energy consumer.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, settled at 67.96 dollars a barrel, down nine cents from Wednesday’s closing level.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for October delivery shed 54 cents to close at 67.12 dollars a barrel.
“The stock market is a big driver now and it’s almost flat,” said Ellis Eckland, an independent trader.
With the major Wall Street indices barely in the green as the oil market closed, a jump in opening oil prices, in response to the Shanghai stock market’s nearly 5.0 percent gain, petered out.
“We saw the reverse happen when the Chinese stock market was down 6.0 percent” on Monday, Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates pointed out.
“Clearly at the moment there is a big link between how the equity markets around the world are performing and what is going on in the oil market,” he said.
Oil contracts, essentially those close to expiration, had found support in the US Department of Energy’s latest weekly energy report Wednesday, which showed declines in crude oil and gasoline reserves and a stabilzation in demand.
“Near-term demand and supply are tightening a little bit,” Eckland said.
The New York benchmark contract slid lower in the final minutes of trading, as investors braced for the highly anticipated US August employment data due Friday.
Investors were expected to pore over the monthly numbers, considered an indicator of economic momentum, to see whether the US is pulling out of a severe recession that began in December 2007.
A smaller-than-expected decline last week in the number of US initial claims for unemployment benefits, reported by the Labor Department Thursday, put investors on alert.
Oil Prices Drift Lower in International Market was first posted on September 4, 2009 at 3:22 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.
Asian Stocks Gain Cautiously Ahead of Jobs Report
CANBERRA: Most Asian markets rose in cautious trading Friday as investors looked ahead to a key U.S. jobs report for clues about the outlook for the world’s largest economy — an important export market for Asia.
Trading has been jittery the last couple weeks amid worries that the rally in global markets since March may have been overdone. China’s stock market, which has been particularly volatile, was little changed by midday.
Investors were heartened by the modest advance Thursday on Wall Street, where markets broke a four-day slide.
But given the importance of the U.S. market to Asia, many were holding back until the U.S. Labor Department released jobs numbers later Friday. Economists expect the unemployment rate to edge up to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent, while the number of layoffs is expected to slow to 225,000 from 247,000.
“The movement seems to be very much sideways because the investors are waiting for more indications such as the U.S. employment data to be released tonight,” said Ben Kwong Man Bun, the chief operating officer at KGI Securities.
“It’s stabilizing a bit, but there’s too much uncertainty about whether rebound can be sustained,” he said.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 78.96 points, or 0.4 percent, to 19,834.47, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 11.1 points, or 0.25 percent, to 4,440.8. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index edged up 2.89 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,847.91, after surging 4.8 percent Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, meanwhile, sagged 55.73 points, or 0.6 percent, to 10.158.91, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.3 percent to 1,609.17.
U.S. stock index futures were narrowly mixed, suggesting a tepid open on Wall Street Friday.
In New York Thursday, stocks gained in light trading. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 63.94, or 0.7 percent, to 9,344.61, while the S&P 500 index climbed 8.49, or 0.9 percent, to 1,003.24. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 16.13, or 0.8 percent, to 1,983.20.
Oil prices rose, with benchmark oil for October delivery gaining 25 cents to $68.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In currencies, the dollar edged up to 92.62 yen from 92.56 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro was little changed at $1.4252.
Asian Stocks Gain Cautiously Ahead of Jobs Report was first posted on September 4, 2009 at 3:27 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.
