Asian markets ends flat in holiday thin trading
Most of the stock markets in Asian region were closed on the account of Lunar New Year Holiday. However, of the remaining Japanese and New Zealand market followed the lower Wall Street closing registered on Friday.
On the Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended lower by 45.24 points, or 0.56%, to 8077.56. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.45, or 0.54%, to 831.95 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 11.80, or 0.81%, to 1477.29 on Friday, 23 January 2009.
In the commodity market, crude oil fell from a two-week high on speculation recession in the world's largest economies will curtail demand for fuel and energy.
Crude oil for March delivery fell as much as $1.22, or 2.6%, to $45.25 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $45.63 at 8:44 a.m. London time.
The contract rose 6.4% to $46.47 on 23 January 2009, the highest settlement since Jan. 6. It gained 9.2% last week as oil producers reduced output and plunging equity markets prompted investors to buy oil, gold and other commodities.
Brent crude oil for March settlement fell as much as $1.70, or 3.5%, to $46.67 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was trading at $47.32 at 8:42 a.m. in London. The contract gained 6.6% to $48.37 a barrel on 23 January 2009.
Gold prices retreated $1.40 an ounce, or 0.16%, to $896.3 in Asian electronic trading on Monday after the most active February Comex gold contract gained $38.9 an ounce, or 4.53%, to $897.7 by the close of New York trading on Friday.
In the currency market, the dollar bought 89.14 yen, up from 88.80 yen in Friday's late North American trading. The yen has recently traded near 13-years highs, weighing heavily on exporters. A stronger currency erodes the value of repatriated overseas profits, and makes exported goods more expensive and less appealing in overseas markets.
The Hong Kong dollar was trading at HK$ 7.7584 against the dollar. Actually The Hong Kong dollar is pegged at HK$ 7.8 to the U.S. dollar but can trade between HK$ 7.75 and HK$7.85 to the U.S. dollar.
In late Sydney trades, the Australian dollar was trading at US$0.6552 up from Friday's close of US$0.6538.
In late Wellington trades, the New Zealand dollar was buying US$0.5247, down compared to US$0.5289 at close on Friday.
In late Seoul trades, the South Korean won was trading at 1,393.80 won to the U.S. dollar, down by 8.50 won from Friday's close of 1,385.20 won.
The Singapore dollar finished at 1.5060 against the previous close of 1.5090 while the Malaysian Ringgit closed Monday's deals at 3.6255.
Coming back in equities, markets in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia were among those closed, as those countries celebrated the New Year of the Ox. Australia and India were also shut for national holidays. China and Taiwan will be closed through the week and will resume trade on 2 February 2009.
Among the remaining, Japanese stock index Nikkei finished the session lower hitting three months low after moving in and out of negative territory throughout the morning, with investors spooked by dismal corporate earnings and global economic outlooks. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average index retreated 63.11 points, or 0.8%, to 7,682.14, while the broader Topix fell 5.27 points, or 0.7%, to 768.
Equities on the New Zealand stock market ended almost flat on Monday after dipping down more than 1% to end the week on Friday. The benchmark NZX50 ended almost flat 0.02% or 0.660 points to close at 2705.746. The NZX 15 edged forward 0.02% or 0.867 points to 4957.372.
On the economic front, as per the Westpac bank report, New Zealand's labour market is getting uglier. The report further predicts that the unemployment rate will rise to 4.6 per cent by the December quarter.
The Philippines stock market finished the session higher with strong gains in industrials and services sector. Meanwhile buying pressure was evident in the shares of mining and holding firms. The benchmark index PSEi added 0.6%, or 12.58 points, to 1,869.92, while the All Share index rose 0.75% or 9.1 points to 1,211.51.
In the other regional market, Barclays and ING shot higher Monday to lead Europe stocks, as two of Europe's largest banks said they weren't further diluting their equity.
Overall, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 1.2% to 4,099.20 and the French CAC-40 index added 0.8% to 2,872.84. The German DAX 30 index added 0.3% to 4,191.16.
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