Investors in mood to sell again

Asian stocks resumed their downward track yesterday Thursday Mar 17 as Japan’s nuclear crisis cast a shadow over trade and the yen soared to a post-World War Two high.



However, investors pared earlier losses as crews fought to douse an overheating power plant while the Bank of Japan pumped another 6 trillion yen into the short-term money market to soothe concerns.



A day after shares regained some of their huge losses of Monday and Tuesday, dealers were back in selling mood as they eyed events in Japan.



TOKYO ended 1.44 percent, or 131.05 points, lower at 8,962.67, although the index was well off earlier lows that had seen it sink more than 4 percent.



The index, and especially exporters, was helped by an easing of the yen to 79.14 against the dollar after it surged to 76.52 in earlier trade, its highest since the end of World War Two.



Dealers said the yen’s sharp rise might be at least partly due to Japanese companies repatriating funds to pay for reconstruction but Tokyo laid some of the blame with speculators.



“There is intensifying market speculation the Bank of Japan will soon intervene to cap support of the yen,” said NAB Capital analyst David de Garis.



TAIPEI closed 0.50 percent, or 41.89 points, lower at 8,282.69.



SHANGHAI shed 1.14 percent, or 33.50 points, to 2,897.30 with nuclear energy firms hit by news that China’s government had suspended approval of new projects in response to the Japan crisis.



However, SYDNEY pared earlier losses to end flat, edging down just 2.9 points to 4,555.3, although uranium firms fell.



Seoul also closed flat, adding 1.06 points to 1,959.03.



“It was a massive quake at first and the tsunami right after, and then the nuclear crisis. The most scary thing for the market is no one knows what’s coming next,” KB Investment & Securities analyst Kim Soo-young in Seoul told Dow Jones Newswires.



HONG KONG: Shares fell 1.83 percent yesterday on concern over the Japanese nuclear crisis. The benchmark Hang Seng Index lost 416.45 points to end at 22,284.43.

However, the market ended off its lows from earlier in the day, when it had lost almost 4 percent.

“It’s still early to tell if the nuclear plant crisis in Japan could be resolved in the near term and I think the selloff in regional markets could persist.” Sun Hung Kai Financial analyst Daniel So told Dow Jones Newswires.



SINGAPORE: Southeast Asian stock markets fell in light volume yesterday as investors sold across the board in response to Japan’s worsening nuclear crisis.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell 0.95 percent, or 28.12 points, to end at 2,942.88.

DBS Bank was down 0.28 percent to S$14.04 and Singapore Airlines lost 1.52 percent to S$13.00.

Analysts attributed the bearish sentiment in Singapore to weak US housing data.



KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia consolidated in step with technical pullbacks on regional stock markets yesterday. Falls outpaced rises by 435 to 285.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) consolidated from its intra-day low of 1,480.27 to its intra-day high of 1,492.09 yesterday. It closed at 1,492.09, down 0.35 point.



In other markets:



* Manila fell 1.57 percent, or 61.06 points, to 3,817.38.



* Jakarta fell 1.34 percent, or 47.26 points, to 3,484.22.



* Bangkok fell 0.57 percent, or 5.78 points, to 1,002.35.



*Mumbai closed 1.14 percent, or 208.82 points, lower at 18,149.87.



VIETNAM: The VN Index loses another 3.05 points or 0.66 percent to 460.53 pts.

Meanwhile, the HNX Index bounced 0.4 points or 0.43 percent to 92.38 pts.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (STC), the total trading volume reached over 34.04 million shares worth 766.17 billion dong.

On the northern floor, the total market trade reached over 32.65 million shares valued at over 560.56 billion dong.



EUROPE: European shares gained ground yesterday as investors snapped up beaten down shares following a sharp sell-off on the Japanese nuclear crisis.



By 1206 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.9 percent at 1,077.14 points as technical indicators pointed to a rebound.



“There is going to be some disruption on industries by the situation in Japan, but what happens is the market often over-discounts these issues and big chunks are taken off prices,” Paras Anand, head of European Equities at F&C Asset Management.



Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was 0.9 percent higher, Germany’s DAX gained 1.3 percent and France’s CAC 40 was up 1 percent.



AMERICA: Signs that the U.S. economy is improving helped investors put aside fears over Japan’s nuclear crisis Thursday, if only temporarily. It was the first gain in the market after three days of losses.



Stocks rose broadly. All of the 10 groups rose in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, the basis for most U.S. mutual funds. Twenty-six of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average rose, led by a 3.2 percent increase in Hewlett-Packard Co. All 30 fell the day before.



The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 16.84, or 1.3 percent, to 1,273.72. With Thursday’s gains, the Dow and S&P 500 are up more than 1 percent for the year.



The Dow gained 161.29 points, or 1.4 percent, to 11,774.59. The index fell 242 points Wednesday, its largest drop since August.



A gauge of manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region jumped in February to the highest point since January 1984. The survey from the Federal Reserve’s Philadelphia branch showed new orders soared. Production at U.S. factories, mines and utilities dipped last month but was actually higher in previous months than first estimated, according to the Federal Reserve.



The Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell more than economists expected last week. Ongoing claims dropped to the lowest level since October 2008.



The dollar dropped to an all-time low against the Japanese yen late Wednesday, reaching 76.53 yen to the dollar. By Thursday afternoon, the yen had weakened and was trading at 78.97 yen to the dollar. When the yen loses strength, it takes more yen to buy one dollar.



A stronger yen would hurt Japan’s exporters, potentially dealing another problem to an economy already wracked by an earthquake, tsunami and evolving nuclear crisis.



Bond prices fell for the first time in three days, pushing their yields higher, as investors put money back into riskier assets like stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.26 percent from 3.20 percent.



A separate report from the Labor Department showed consumer prices edged higher in February. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent last month, slightly stronger than forecasts. Core prices, which exclude food and fuel costs, edged up 0.2 percent, the same as the previous month.



The Nasdaq rose 19.23, or 0.7 percent, to 2,636.05. The technology-heavy index is down 0.6 percent for the year.



Three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 4.1 billion shares.

Benchmark Currency Rates

        USD     EUR     JPY     GBP     CHF     CAD     AUD     HKD

HKD     7.8016  10.9134 0.0960  12.5671 8.5861  7.9299  7.7111  -

AUD     1.0117  1.4153  0.0124  1.6297  1.1135  1.0284  -       0.1297

CAD     0.9838  1.3762  0.0121  1.5848  1.0827  -       0.9724  0.1261

CHF     0.9086  1.2711  0.0112  1.4637  -       0.9236  0.8981  0.1165

GBP     0.6208  0.8684  0.0076  -       0.6832  0.6310  0.6136  0.0796

JPY     81.3088 113.739 -       130.975 89.4841 82.6460 80.3656 10.4220

EUR     0.7149  -       0.0088  1.1515  0.7867  0.7266  0.7066  0.0916

USD     -       1.3989  0.0123  1.6108  1.1005  1.0164  0.9884  0.1282

                                                              Bloomberg

Tags: Vietnam stock news

Posted by VBN on Mar 18 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