Asian marts mostly down on Japan jitters

Asian shares mostly fell yesterday Monday Mar 28 with Tokyo slipping as emergency work to bring under control a crippled nuclear plant in Japan continued to be held up by high levels of radioactivity.



Crews battling to avoid a wider nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No.1 plant, which was rocked by the March 11 quake and tsunami, have suffered several setbacks, with workers forced to evacuate by soaring radiation levels.



Tokyo slipped 0.60 percent, or 57.60 points, to close at 9,478.53 and Sydney shed 0.19 percent, or 9.0 points, to 4,733.6, while Hong Kong fell 0.39 percent, or 90.48 points, to 23,068.19.



However, late buying helped Seoul to end up 0.11 percent, or 2.35 points, at 2,056.39, while Shanghai closed up 0.21 percent, or 6.19 points, at 2,056.39.



Investors were upbeat last week as work to contain the Fukushima crisis appeared to be going well, but reports of rising levels of radiation have hampered workers’ efforts, stoking uncertainty over how quickly the situation will be resolved.



Concerns over the Japanese crisis overshadowed another strong cue from Wall Street last Friday, where the Dow closed up 0.41 percent thanks to an upward revision of the growth figure for the US economy in the last quarter of 2010.



HONG KONG: Shares ended 0.39 percent lower yesterday on profit-taking and amid concerns over the progress of emergency work at a stricken Japanese nuclear plant.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 90.48 points to close at 23,068.19 on turnover of HK$75.11 billion.

The losses came despite fourth-quarter US growth being revised up to 3.1 percent from 2.8 percent and comments from a senior Fed official calling for monetary policy to be tightened soon, suggesting the economy is much stronger.



SINGAPORE: The Straits Times Index fell 0.44 percent, or 13.46 points, to 3,057.38.

DBS Bank gained 0.14 percent to S$14.34 while Singapore Airlines fell 0.45 percent to S$13.40.

Cosco Corp. Singapore Ltd, a China-based shipbuilder, climbed 2.5 percent to S$2.06. The company said it signed an agreement to build two drilling platforms, valued at US$525 million each, for Sevan Drilling Group.



KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia consolidated within range-bound trading activities yesterday. Overall declining counters out-numbered advancing counters by 380 to 371.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell from its intra-day high of 1,517.47 to its intra-day low of 1,511.98 yesterday.

The index closed at 1,514.25 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 1.30 points, or 0.09 percent.



In other markets:



* Taipei fell 0.67 percent, or 57.33 points, to 8,553.06.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.28 percent lower at NT$71.0 while MediaTek lost 0.73 percent at NT$340.5.



* Manila rose 0.98 percent, or 38.17 points, to end at 3,913.98.



* Wellington ended 0.57 percent, or 19.44 points, higher at 3,408.05.



* Jakarta fell 0.12 percent, or 4.25 points, to 3,602.86.



* Bangkok fell 0.46 percent, or 4.79 points, to close at 1,032.94.

Banpu lost 10.00 baht at 756.00 baht and PTT fell 2.00 baht at 346.00.



* In Mumbai, shares rose 0.68 percent with the benchmark 30-share Sensex Index ending up 127.5 points to 18,943.14.

Tata Motors rose 3.25 percent or 38.45 rupees to 1,220.3, Bharti Airtel rose 2.57 percent or 8.7 rupees to 347.8 while DB Realty plunged 14.02 percent.



VIETNAM: The VN Index bounced 1.78 points or 0.39 percent to 459.52 pts and the HNX Index also edged up 0.25 points or 0.27 percent to 93.07 pts.



EUROPE: European shares edged higher yesterday, propped up by technology stocks after an upgrade, though the small addition to last week’s rise was expected to be curbed by technical factors.



At 0845 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.2 percent at 1,127.37 points, after rising 3.3 percent last week, the biggest weekly gain since September.



Telecom equipment firms Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent rose 2.4 and 4 percent respectively after Goldman Sachs upgraded its investment rating on both shares to “buy” from “neutral”.



Across Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC40 rose between 0.3 and 0.4 percent. Portugal’s benchmark PSI rose 0.5 percent.



AMERICA: Stocks closed with slight losses Monday after falling in the last half-hour of trading. Major indexes had been up for most of the day after several economic reports suggested that the recovery is continuing.



The Dow Jones industrial average fell 22.71 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,197.88. The broader S&P 500 index lost 3.61, or 0.3 percent, to 1,310.19. The Nasdaq composite fell 12.38, or 0.5 percent, to 2,730.68. Each index had been up more than 0.4 percent earlier in the day.



The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose at its fastest pace in four months in February, though some of the increase was driven by higher gas prices. The National Association of Realtors said more Americans signed contracts to buy homes in February than economists were expecting. Sales rose in every region but the Northeast, but remained below what is considered a healthy level.



In Libya, rebels gained ground against longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi after international airstrikes against Gadhafi’s forces. Oil prices fell below $104 per barrel after rebels retook control of key port towns Ras Lanouf and Brega and said they would resume exporting crude within weeks.



In the U.S., Eastman Kodak Co. gained 5 percent after the U.S. Trade Commission said it will review a judge’s finding in a patent dispute with Apple Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd. A favorable ruling could pave the way for Kodak to reap higher fees.



EBay Inc. fell 4.3 percent after the company agreed to pay $2.4 billion to acquire GSI Commerce, which operates websites for retailers like Toys R Us and Bath & Body Works.



Oil-services companies Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger Ltd. each rose more than 4 percent. Netflix Inc. rose 3 percent after announcing a deal with Paramount to stream more movies to subscribers in Canada.



This is a data-heavy week on Wall Street. A crucial jobs report and manufacturing surveys will be released over the next five days.



Three stocks fell for every two that gained on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 3.3 billion shares.

Benchmark Currency Rates

        USD     EUR     JPY     GBP     CHF     CAD     AUD     HKD

HKD     7.7987  10.9857 0.0956  12.4715 8.5175  7.9755  7.9792  -

AUD     0.9774  1.3768  0.0120  1.5630  1.0675  0.9995  -       0.1253

CAD     0.9778  1.3774  0.0120  1.5637  1.0680  -       1.0005  0.1254

CHF     0.9156  1.2898  0.0112  1.4642  -       0.9364  0.9368  0.1174

GBP     0.6253  0.8809  0.0077  -       0.6830  0.6395  0.6398  0.0802

JPY     81.5560 114.885 -       130.423 89.0729 83.4051 83.4440 10.4576

EUR     0.7099  -       0.0087  1.1352  0.7753  0.7260  0.7263  0.0910

USD     -       1.4087  0.0123  1.5992  1.0922  1.0227  1.0232  0.1282

                                                              Bloomberg

Tags: Vietnam business news, vietnam enterprices

Posted by VBN on Mar 29 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