Asian Markets ends mixed
Stock markets in the Asian region closed mixed on Tuesday 13 January 2009, after Wall Street ended the overnight trading session lower. On Wall Street, earning warnings sent US stocks lower ahead of Alcoa's earnings report. Energy sector and the financial sector led the declines. The weakness was broad based in the overall market. The Dow Jones industrial average ended lower by 125 points at 8,474, the Nasdaq closed lower by 33 points at 1,538 and the S&P 500 closed lower by 20 points at 870.
The Japanese market closed lower for the third straight session, while the South Korean market pared early losses and closed higher. The markets in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia followed the losses, while the markets in New Zealand, Taiwan and closed higher.
In the commodity market, crude oil fell for a sixth day in New York, extending yesterday's 7.9% slump on speculation oil inventories last week increased as demand declined.
Crude oil for February delivery fell as much as $ 1.07, or 2.85%, to $37.12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil for February settlement was at $42.92 a barrel, up 0.1 cents, on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.
In the currency market, the Japanese yen was quoted at 88.96 against the US dollar today, up from Thursday's close of 89.21-22 yen in Tokyo.
The Hong Kong dollar was trading at HK$ 7.756 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$7.85 to the U.S. dollar.
The Australian dollar edged down against its US counterpart. The Aussie reached 0.6694 against the US dollar, compared to 0.6814 hit in the early morning trade.
The New Zealand dollar was trading at US55.54c down from US58.58c as registered yesterday. The currency tumbled to a one-month low as surprisingly bad business confidence and a warning from Standard & Poor's lowered investors confidence.
The South Korean won was trading at 1,359.90 won to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, down by 4.60 won from Monday's close of 1,349.30 won.
The Taiwan dollar strengthened against the US dollar as it was trading at NT$ 32.237 in the afternoon trade against the Wednesday closing of NT$ 33.049.
The Singapore dollar finished at 1.4881 against the previous close of 1.4887 while the Malaysian Ringgit closed Wednesday's deals at 3.5785
The Philippines peso slipped against the dollar. Currently, the dollar-peso pair is worth 47.47, compared to 46.19 hit late New York.
Coming back in equities, Japanese indices endured losses for second day in row to finish the session steep lower, with steep losses in exporter and technology shares on strengthening yen against greenback and slower global demand. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average index plummeted 422.89 points, or 4.8%, to 8,413.91. The broader Topix index tumbled 40.9 points, or 4.8%, to 814.
On the economic front, Japan's current account surplus shrank as much as 65.9% in November from the year-ago period because of a sharp fall in the country's exports, official data showed. Current account surplus fell to 581.2 billion yen ($6.46 billion) from 1.71 trillion yen in November 2007. Monthly trade balance was a negative 93.4 billion yen, as exports shrank 26.5% amid tough global economic conditions compared with a 13.7% decline in imports
In Mainland China, the stock markets ended weaker on the back of weaker nonferrous and bank and financial shares after pullback in commodity prices and Shenzhen Development Bank's provisions against bad loans, and negative lead from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 36.98 points, or 1.9%, to 1,863.36 while the Shenzhen index declined by 17.10 points or 2.90% to 571.62.
On the economic front, the National Bureau of Statistics reported China trade surplus of $38.98 billion in December. China exports fell for the second consecutive month due to the impact of the global financial crisis. Exports in December dropped 2.8% year-on-year, after falling 2.2% in November, while imports in December dropped to 21.3% year-on-year, after having fallen 17.9% the previous month.
The statistic bureau survey data showed that entrepreneur confidence index (ECI) gained 94.6 in the fourth quarter of 2008, dropped 29.2 over the previous quarter. Business Climate Survey results of NBS in whole country showed that the national business climate index (BCI) was 107.0 in the fourth quarter of 2008, dropped 21.6 points over the third quarter.
The central bank said China's foreign exchange reserves rose by about $40.4 billion in the fourth quarter to $1.946 trillion at the end of 2008.
In Hong Kong, the share prices closed lower for a sixth day on corporate earnings concerns and gloomy trade figures from China, with mainland stocks leading the decline following a weak finish in Shanghai.
The Hang Seng index closed down 302.95 points or 2.17% at 13,668.05, after moving in the range of 13,644.54 and 14,118.93. The index has lost 12.2 pct over the past six sessions. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index closed down 230.70 points or 3.16% at 7,080.53.
In Australia, the key indices continued their losing for the second day losses in a row, with broad based slumps in energy, miners, and resources on sharp pullback in commodity prices, while concerns over corporate earning outlook and deep global recession weighed down financials and property trusts. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 lost 28.70 points, or 0.78%, to 3,654.6, while the broader All Ordinaries slipped by 30.10 points, or 0.83%, to 3,593.9.
Meanwhile the stock markets in New Zealand sustain its upward journey for the third consecutive session despite of early hiccups. The NZX50 advanced 0.23% or 6.37 points to close at 2774.642.
On the economic front, New Zealand institute of economic research released its Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) pointing to a continued contraction in domestic trading activity, along with easing pricing intentions, in the final quarter of 2008. According to report, the domestic economy remained weak in the December quarter, providing scope for the Reserve Bank to further reduce the Official Cash Rate (OCR) in January.
In South Korea, stock markets closed upward helped by Hynix, which rose on hopes chip prices have bottomed, while Daewoo Ship jumped amid talk its sale to Hanwha may fall apart, leaving an opening for a new suitor. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index ended up by 10.96 points or 0.95% at 1,167.71 points.
In Taiwan, stock markets closed the day higher as heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) surged more than 5% on reports that it will step up capacity utilization next month. The indices also break its four days losing streak, as they decided not to follow the three-figure loss on Wall Street. The main Taiex share index ended up 78.46 points or 1.76% at 4,532.36, after hitting a low of 4,423.14.
In Philippines, the benchmark index ended flat. The benchmark index PSEi lost 0.08% or 1.79 points to 1,996.04, while the All-share index climbed 0.007% or 0.09 points to 1,262.19.
In other news, looking at the receding oil prices and reducing inflationary scenario Chevron Philippines and Petron Corporation announced to reduce prices of their gasoline, diesel and kerosene products by P0.50 per liter starting today. The government had said consumers could expect further pump price reductions this month. Gasoline prices are now at P28.50-33.50 a liter, while diesel products are already at P27.50-32.50 a liter levels.
On the economic front, merchandise export earnings in November fell by 11.9% to $3.49 billion from a year ago. The country's main export commodity, electronic products, contracted by 17.0% in November from a year ago after suffering from a double-digit decline of 18.9% the previous month. Month-on-month export earnings for November were down 12% compared with a 10% fall in October. Due to the decline in November, year-to-date export earnings were just slightly up at 0.76% over the same period in 2007.
In India, key benchmark indices fell towards its closing wiping out the gaines registered earlier in the day on the back of IT pivotals which rose on the back of stronger-than-expected Q3 December 2008 results posted by Infosys. The BSE 30-share Sensex was down 38.69 points, or 0.42% at 9071.36. The S&P Nifty was down by 1.02% trading at 2744.95
Elsewhere, Malaysia's Kula Lumpur Composite index was down 1.07% or 9.87 points to 913.70, while Singapore's market fell by 14.43 points or 0.81% to 1761.82. Indonesia's Jakarta composite decreased by 6.82 points or 0.48% to 1399.73.
In the other regional markets, European shares slipped for a fifth straight session, tracking losses in the U.S. and Asia, as investors remained worried that big companies might post poor results in the current earnings reporting season. On a national level, the U.K. FTSE 100 index fell 1.1% to 4,379.58, the German DAX 30 index lost 0.9% to 4,676.35 and the French CAC-40 index dropped 1.2% to 3,206.22
Comments