Equities rise as oil prices fall

Asian markets climbed yesterday Tuesday Mar 8 as the surge in world oil prices abated at least temporarily, with members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) holding consultations in the light of turmoil in a swathe of Arab states.



TOKYO’s Nikkei ended the session up 0.19 percent, or 20.17 points, at 10,525.19 and SYDNEY rose 0.21 percent, or 10.30 points, to 4,808.20.



SHANGHAI made a late recovery to end up 0.12 percent, or 3.73 points, at 2,999.94 after officials sought on Monday to allay fears of an imminent interest rate increase.



Crude prices slipped after the US refused to rule out tapping its oil reserves to ease the impact of high oil prices.



“Risk aversion is likely to be the dominant theme until there is reasonable certainty that oil prices can retreat to US$90 or below,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told Dow Jones Newswires.



“The threat of a permanent rise in oil prices has hit at a time when equity markets were priced on the assumption of solid earnings growth over the next 12 to 18 months.



“Oil at over $100 per barrel for any length of time is likely to lead to reduced expectations for consumer discretionary spending and corporate profitability.”



Markets got a weak lead from the US, where the volatility in Libya and the Middle East spooked Wall Street on Monday.



The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 79.85 points (0.66 percent) to finish at 12,090.03.



The S&P 500 index, a broader measure of the markets, fell 11.02 points (0.83 percent) to 1,310.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 39.04 points (1.40 percent) at 2,745.63.



HONG KONG: Shares rose 1.71 percent yesterday as global oil prices showed signs of easing.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 398.51 points to 23,711.7.

“Tuesday’s gains showed that the fundamentals of the market are positive, and that soaring oil prices was the single major factor that weighed down share prices in the past couple of weeks,” Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.



SINGAPORE: Stocks rose yesterday with banks among bright spots. Dealers attributed the buying to short-covering.

The Straits Times Index rose 1.22 percent, or 37.32 points, to 3,103.84.

“The Singapore market has been coming off lately and most people bought on short-covering. Judging from many key indicators, this is less likely fresh buying,” said a Singapore-based equities trader



KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia resumed their technical rebound yesterday. Advancing counters outpaced declining counters by 529 to 223.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) fell from its intra-day high of 1,525.01 to its intra-day low of 1,515.17 yesterday. It closed at 1,517.66 points, giving a day-on-day gain of 1.92 points.



In other markets:



* Seoul rose 0.81 percent, or 16.05 points, to 1,996.32.



* Taipei rose 0.39 percent, or 33.96 points, to 8,747.75.



* Manila rose 0.32 percent, or 12.39 points, to 3,898.87 thanks to strong corporate results.



* Jakarta rose 0.52 percent, or 18.6 points, to 3,580.31.



* Bangkok rose 1.56 percent, or 15.63 points, to 1,018.57.



* Mumbai rose 1.19 percent, or 216.98 points, to 18,439.69. Telecom, auto and oil stocks rose.



VIETNAM: The index of Hochiminh Stock Exchange (STC) continued to gain 7.16 points or 1.53 percent to 475.38 pts whereas the HNX Index still lost another 0.6 points or 0.66 percent to 90.05 pts.



EUROPE: Europe’s main stock markets steadied yesterday as investors eyed falling oil prices, but sentiment remained fragile as violence flared once again in Libya, dealers said.



By 0950 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was 0.3 percent higher at 1,147.44 points.



London’s FTSE 100 index of top shares eased 0.10 percent to 5,968.39 points in late morning trade and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 dipped 0.13 percent to 7,152.91 points. On the upside, the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.22 percent to 3,999.20 points.



“Looks like we are in for a reasonable rally today (Tuesday), with the fall in the oil price calming investor nerves,” Mark Priest, senior equities trader at ETX Capital in London, said. “But the focus will remain on the Middle East.”



AMERICA: Financial companies pushed stock indexes higher Tuesday on signs that banks may soon raise their dividends.



Bank of America Corp. gained 4.7 percent, the most of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average, after chief executive Brian Moynihan told an investor’s meeting that the bank could earn more money over the next two years as its business stabilizes. That led analysts to note that large consumer banks may raise their dividends. Banks slashed dividends during the 2008 financial crisis to cut costs.



Financial stocks in the S&P 500 index rose 2.2 percent, the most of any of the index’s 10 company groups. American Express Co. gained 3.5 percent, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. gained 2.6 percent.



Falling oil prices also helped stocks move higher. Oil prices dipped 0.5 percent to $105 a barrel after Kuwait’s oil minister said that OPEC members are in informal talks about raising oil output as the conflict in Libya continues.



Oil prices have risen 9 percent so far this month. That has pushed stocks lower as investors worry that higher gas prices will dampen the economic recovery.



The Dow Jones industrial average gained 124.35 points, or 1 percent, to 12,214.38. The S&P 500 rose 11.69, or 0.9 percent, to 1,321.82.



Energy companies were the only group in the S&P index to fall, losing 0.6 percent.



The Nasdaq composite rose 20.14, or 0.7 percent, to 2,765.77.



Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.54 percent from 3.51 percent late Monday.



Three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1 billion shares.

Benchmark Currency Rates

        USD     EUR     JPY     GBP     CHF     CAD     AUD     HKD

HKD     7.7896  10.8194 0.0940  12.5865 8.3268  8.0201  7.8513  -

AUD     0.9921  1.3780  0.0120  1.6031  1.0606  1.0215  -       0.1274

CAD     0.9713  1.3490  0.0117  1.5694  1.0382  -       0.9790  0.1247

CHF     0.9355  1.2993  0.0113  1.5116  -       0.9632  0.9429  0.1201

GBP     0.6189  0.8596  0.0075  -       0.6616  0.6372  0.6238  0.0795

JPY     82.8440 115.066 -       133.859 88.5568 85.2945 83.5001 10.6351

EUR     0.7200  -       0.0087  1.1633  0.7696  0.7413  0.7257  0.0924

USD     -       1.3889  0.0121  1.6158  1.0690  1.0296  1.0079  0.1284

                                                              Bloomberg

Tags: Vietnam business, Vietnam companies

Posted by imminuivatoom 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