Asian mixed on fresh Japan concerns


Asian stock markets were mixed yesterday Tuesday Mar 29, with TOKYO falling for a second straight day as fresh concerns emerged over a meltdown at Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.



Jitters among already cautious traders were made worse when it emerged late Monday that plutonium had been detected in soil at the plant while highly contaminated water has leaked from a reactor, fanning environmental fears.



The Nikkei, which had fallen 1.47 percent in the morning, bounced back in the afternoon session as worries about the plant eased and dealers bought on upbeat jobs data and renewed optimism about the US economy.



The index ended the day just 0.21 percent, or 19.45 points, lower at 9,459.08.



“The market has digested the plutonium (contamination) news, and the bottom is supported by seemingly solid US economic recovery prospects,” said Tatsunori Kawai, chief strategist at kabu.com.



SHANGHAI closed 0.87 percent, or 25.93 points, lower at 2,958.08 and HONG KONG ended flat, edging down 7.83 points to 22,060.36.



SYDNEY added 0.47 percent, or 22.2 points, to end at 4,755.8 and SEOUL gained 0.77 percent, or 15.74 points, to 2,072.13.



Regional investors were also given support by confidence in the US economy after fourth quarter growth in the world’s biggest economy was revised up to 3.1 percent from the previous estimate of 2.8 percent.



That came as a senior Fed official said its monetary policy should be tightened soon, adding to the belief that recovery is on track.



Eyes are also on key government payroll figures to be released in Washington on Friday.



HONG KONG: Shares ended flat yesterday in cautious trade amid concerns over the Japanese nuclear power plant crisis and ahead of the earnings reports from large blue chips.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index edged down 7.83 points to 23,060.36 on turnover of HK$67.46 billion.

“The Hong Kong stock market has been in a deadlock recently as a number of opposing factors were at play,” Haitong Securities said in a report.



SINGAPORE: The Straits Times Index edged down 0.43 point to close at 3,056.95.

The market was fractionally weaker as property developers City Developments and CapitaLand fell after a brokerage cut its rating on the sector.

Oil-rig maker Keppel Corp gained 1.35 percent to S$12.0 while SingTel rose 0.34 percent to S$2.94.



KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia rebounded in counter-trend to the regional markets’ consolidations yesterday. Its overall advancing counters outnumbered declining counters by 543 to 264.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBMKLCI) rebounded from its intra-day low of 1,514.05 to its intra-day high of 1,520.09 yesterday. It closed at 1,520.09 points, giving a day-on-day gain of 5.84 points, or 0.39 percent.



In other markets:



* Taipei added 0.51 percent, or 43.51 points, to end at 8,596.57.



* Manila fell 0.17 percent, or 6.75 points, to 3,907.23.



* Wellington advanced 0.39 percent, or 13.14 points, to 3,421.19.



* Jakarta fell 0.31 percent, or 11.34 points, to 3,591.52.



* Bangkok closed 0.33 percent, or 3.42 points, higher at 1,036.36.



* Mumbai rose 0.94 percent, or 177.66 points, to 19,120.8.



VIETNAM: The VN Index declined by 1.64 points or 0.36 percent to 457.88 pts and the HNX Index also slumped by 1.13 points or 1.21 percent to 91.94 pts.



EUROPE: European stock markets dropped yesterday as traders digested mixed economic and corporate data from across the region.



London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 0.30 percent to 5,886.63 points in midday trade after official data showed Britain’s economy had contracted by 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, slightly better than first thought.



The Paris CAC 40 lost 0.67 percent to 3,950.53 points and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slid 0.80 percent to 6,885.25 after a closely-watched survey indicating the rate of growth across eurozone manufacturing and services sectors hit a two-month low.



The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies declined 0.74 percent to 2,893.57 points.



AMERICA: Stocks finished broadly higher Tuesday after consumer confidence fell less than some analysts had feared. All 10 company groups that make up the S&P 500 index rose by more than 0.3 percent.



The S&P 500 rose 9.25 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,319.44. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 81.13 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,279.01. The Nasdaq composite rose 26.21, or 1 percent, to 2,756.89.



Rising gas prices helped drag down consumer confidence in March. The Conference Board said its confidence index dropped to 63.4 from 72 in February.



The fall comes after five straight months of gains, but some economists had expected the decline to be even worse. Goldman Sachs had forecast a drop to 60, believing that high gas prices would pinch spending. The University of Michigan confidence survey also took a steep fall last week.



The Conference Board survey also had a surprising result: the index measuring consumers’ assessment of current conditions gained from February, putting it at the highest level since November 2008.



“Now, you can’t say things are going worse than they were a month ago,” said Thomas Simons, money market economist at Jefferies & Co.



Home Depot Inc. rose 2.9 percent, the most of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones industrial average. The retailer said it would buy $1 billion of its own stock with cash from selling bonds.



Stocks started lower after a report showed that home prices fell in 19 of the 20 large U.S. cities tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller index. Washington was the only city in which prices rose. Prices have fallen 3 percent overall in the past year.



Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 3.6 billion shares.


Benchmark Currency Rates
USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD HKD
HKD 7.7941 11.0040 0.0945 12.4871 8.4708 8.0045 8.0322 -
AUD 0.9704 1.3700 0.0118 1.5546 1.0546 0.9966 - 0.1245
CAD 0.9737 1.3747 0.0118 1.5600 1.0583 - 1.0035 0.1249
CHF 0.9201 1.2990 0.0112 1.4741 - 0.9450 0.9482 0.1181
GBP 0.6242 0.8812 0.0076 - 0.6784 0.6410 0.6432 0.0801
JPY 82.4490 116.405 - 132.093 89.6078 84.6751 84.9678 10.5784
EUR 0.7083 - 0.0086 1.1348 0.7698 0.7274 0.7299 0.0909
USD - 1.4118 0.0121 1.6021 1.0868 1.0270 1.0306 0.1283
Bloomberg

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Posted by VBN on Mar 30 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

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