Economic data lifts sentiment

Asian stock markets edged higher yesterday Wednesday Mar 9, with Tokyo and Hong Kong buoyed by easing world oil prices and signs of improvement in their economies.



TOKYO’s Nikkei Index ended the session up 0.61 percent, or 64.31 points, at 10,589.50.



SHANGHAI edged up 0.07 percent, or 2.21 points, to 3,002.15, while SYDNEY fell 0.84 percent, or 40.40 points, to 4,767.80.



New York crude oil dropped below US$105 after Saudi Arabia promised it could offset any supply disruption caused by political turmoil in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.



Wall Street was buoyed by the Saudi assurance and a survey showing more upbeat small-business sentiment.



On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 124.35 points (1.03 percent) in closing trades to reach 12,214.38. The S&P 500 index, a broader measure of the markets, rose 11.69 points (0.89 percent) to 1,321.82,



Tokyo was lifted by news that core private-sector machinery orders rose a stronger-than-expected 4.2 percent in January from the month before.



Shanghai’s Composite Index trod water however after rising 3.3 percent over the previous three sessions. Chinese coal and gold producers led losses as world oil and gold prices slipped.



There was a note of caution from Jian Wei, senior dealer at City Index Australia, in Sydney, where weaker commodity prices were dragging down mining company stocks.



“The longer the Libyan crisis hangs around the more there will be concern amongst investors. At this stage, there are already speculations that if this persists further, it may impact the recovery in some economies,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.



HONG KONG: Shares rose 0.42 percent yesterday, helped by easing oil prices and strong corporate results from Cathay Pacific and others.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 98.41 points to 23,810.11.

In an encouraging sign, turnover on the Hong Kong exchange picked up a notch, rising to HK$77 billion, the highest in six sessions.

“It’s mostly from long money and that’s a bullish sign,” said a head trader at a USbroker in Hong Kong.



SINGAPORE: Stocks closed mixed yesterday. The Straits Times Index fell 0.35 percent, or 10.94 points, to 3,092.90. Three stocks fell for every two that rose in the benchmark index of 30 companies.

Singapore Airlines rose 1.02 percent to S$13.86 but United Overseas Bank fell 0.95 percent to S$18.78.

Singapore Telecommunications gained 1.3 percent as investors put money in regional telecom stocks.



KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia extended their technical rebound yesterday. Gainers outpaced losers by 575 to 211.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) rebounded from an intra-day low of 1,519.18 to an intra-day high of 1,525.69 yesterday. It closed at 1,523.69, giving a day-on-day gain of 6.03 points, or 0.40 percent.



In other Asian markets yesterday:



* Seoul closed 0.26 percent higher, with the benchmark Kospi gaining 5.15 points to 2,001.47.



* Manila rose 0.72 percent, or 27.99 points, to 3,926.86.



* Taipei edged up 0.03 percent, or 2.27 points, to 8,750.02.



* Jakarta rose 0.51 percent, or 18.36 points, to 3,598.68.



* Bangkok fell 0.15 percent, or 1.56 points, to 1,017.01.



* Mumbai edged up 0.16 percent with the benchmark 30-share Sensex Index rising 30.3 points to 18,469.95.



VIETNAM: The VN Index slipped 4.87 points or 1.02 percent to 470.51 pts and the HNX Index slipped another 1.6 points or 1.78 percent to 88.45 pts.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (STC), the total trading volume including both matching order trade and negotiation transactions reached over 29.97 million shares worth over 711.33 billion dong, up 5.15 percent in volume and 5.57 percent in value day on day.

On the northern floor, the total market trade was over 31.8 million shares valued at over 445.06 billion dong, up 5.54 percent in volume and 9.67 percent in value from the previous session.



EUROPE: European stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday, adding to the previous session’s tentative rebound as Brent crude retreated for a third day, though gains were limited as investors braced for Portugal’s bond auction.



At 0930 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.3 percent at 1,151.56 points.



“I don’t see too much direction either way. Everyone’s still focused on what’s happening in the commodity space,” said a head of institutional trading at a London-based investment bank.



Around Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.1 percent, Germany’s DAX index up 0.5 percent, and France’s CAC 40 up 0.2 percent.



AMERICA: The two-year anniversary of the fastest bull market since the 1950s ended on a down note.



Stocks dipped Wednesday as crude oil prices hovered near $104 a barrel, continuing a three-week run of high prices that economists say could slow the economic recovery.



Stocks hit 12-year lows on March 9, 2009, dragged down by the financial crisis. The S&P 500 index, the benchmark for most U.S. mutual funds, has had a total return of 102 percent since then, including dividends. It was the best two-year period for the index since 1955, according to Standard & Poor’s.



The S&P index lost 1.80 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 1,320.02. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 1.29, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,213.09. The Nasdaq composite fell 14.05, or 0.5 percent, to 2,751.72.



The conflict in Libya has raised concerns about a drop in oil production, causing a surge in crude prices. Oil prices have jumped about $20 per barrel since mid-February, when the Libyan uprising started.



Libya accounts for only 2 percent of global oil output. But the worry is that uprisings that have toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt will spread to larger oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter.



Declining stocks narrowly outpaced rising ones on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was 3.7 billion.

Benchmark Currency Rates

        USD     EUR     JPY     GBP     CHF     CAD     AUD     HKD

HKD     7.7879  10.8357 0.0940  12.6210 8.3799  8.0407  7.8724  -

AUD     0.9893  1.3764  0.0119  1.6032  1.0645  1.0214  -       0.1270

CAD     0.9686  1.3476  0.0117  1.5696  1.0422  -       0.9791  0.1244

CHF     0.9294  1.2931  0.0112  1.5061  -       0.9595  0.9394  0.1193

GBP     0.6171  0.8585  0.0075  -       0.6640  0.6371  0.6238  0.0792

JPY     82.8250 115.238 -       134.225 89.1205 85.5135 83.7237 10.6351

EUR     0.7187  -       0.0087  1.1648  0.7734  0.7421  0.7265  0.0923

USD     -       1.3914  0.0121  1.6206  1.0760  1.0325  1.0109  0.1284

                                                              Bloomberg

Tags: Vietnam stock news

Posted by VBN on Mar 11 2011. Filed under Enterprises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry