Regional rally, led by Tokyo

Tokyo stocks led an Asian rebound yesterday Wednesday Mar 16 as dealers sought bargains after heavy selling over the past two days amid concerns of a nuclear meltdown in Japan following last week’s earthquake.



TOKYO shares soared 5.68 percent, or 488.57 points, to 9,093.72 after diving 10.55 percent on Tuesday – their worst performance since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008 – and 6.18 percent on Monday.



Exporters made big gains following heavy losses over the past two days due to the fact they had halted production in Japan following the 9.0-magnitude quake and consequent tsunami.



Toyota Motor was up 9.14 percent and Sony gained 8.78 percent and Nintendo jumped 6.16 percent.



However, Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, the operator of the stricken nuclear power plant that lost around 25 percent on each of the previous two days, dived a further 24.57 percent.



The strong performance on the Nikkei spurred other regional markets, with Sydney gaining 0.65 percent, or 29.5 points, to end at 4,558.2.



SHANGHAI closed 1.19 percent, or 34.54 points, up at 2,930.80.



SEOUL jumped 1.77 percent, or 34.05 points, to 1,957.97.



“It appears that equity markets in the region have been hit so hard that they are oversold,” said Macquarie Private Wealth division director Martin Lakos.



“But the markets are going to react to whatever news comes out of Japan. This is about risk aversion rather than fundamental values or the impact on global growth,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.



HONG KONG: Shares rose yesterday as bargain hunters moved in following heavy losses in the previous session caused by fears over the Japanese nuclear crisis.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.10 percent, or 22.63 points, to end at 22,700.88.

“As long as it’s not a massive leakage that affects the area outside Japan, I believe market confidence could resume in the near term,” said Mark To, head of research at Wing Fung Financial.



SINGAPORE: Major Southeast Asian stock markets edged higher yesterday despite continuing worries over Japan’s nuclear problems, with investors buying companies that depend on the domestic economy and selected power firms.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Index rose 0.85 percent, or 24.92 points, to close at 2,971.00.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was up 0.55 percent at S$9.11 and Keppel Corp gained 1.41 percent to S$11.52.



KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia rebounded across the board in step with regional stock markets yesterday. Advancers outpaced decliners by 548 to 197.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) rebounded from its intra-day low of 1,484.71 to its intra-day high of 1,492.44 yesterday. It closed at 1,494.44, giving a day-on-day gain of 8.30 points, or 0.56 percent.



In other markets:



* Taipei rose 1.09 percent, or 89.80 points, to 8,324.58.



* Manila shed 0.46 percent, or 17.97 points, to 3,878.44.



* Jakarta gained 0.20 percent, or 6.99 points, to 3,531.48.



* Bangkok gained 0.50 percent, or 5.03 points, to 1,008.13.



* Mumbai closed up 1.05 percent, or 191.05 points, at 18,358.69.



VIETNAM: The VN Index lost another 5.16 points or 1.1 percent to 463.58 pts due to some blue-chips slipped to the floor price.

Conversely, the HNX Index today rallied 0.94 points or 1.03 percent to 91.98 pts.

On the southern bourse, the total trading volume including matching order trade and negotiation transactions reached over 34.03 million shares worth over 786.22 billion dong, falling 2.43 percent in volume but up 2.32 percent in value from the previous trading session.

On the northern floor, the total market trades reached over 29.54 million shares valued at over 453.86 billion dong, rising 3.58 percent in volume and 6.55 percent in value day on day.



EUROPE: European shares were flat yesterday afternoon as worries about the nuclear crisis in Japan and unrest in the Middle East wiped put early gains fuelled by bargain hunters and investors covering short positions.



By 1255 GMT the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 indexwas down 0.1 percent at 1,084.04, hovering above a 31/2- month low.



“It seems stock markets are able to slow down their recent sell-out. At least, the Japanese market was affected by some profits this morning. Of course, it is too early to say if we are facing a trend reversal or just an interruption of the negative trend, but at least it is a stabilisation,” said Enid Omerovic, analyst at Frankfurt-based Close Brothers Seydler.



Across Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent, Germany’s DAX was up 0.5 percent, and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.3 percent.



AMERICA: Financial markets were jolted for a third day Wednesday by fears that a partial meltdown may have occurred at a nuclear plant in Japan. Stocks erased nearly all of their gains for the year.



The losses were broad. Each of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average fell, with IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. losing the most. All 10 company groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, the basis for most U.S. mutual funds, lost ground.



Stocks dropped sharply in midmorning trading after the European Union’s energy chief was quoted as saying that Japan’s nuclear crisis could get worse. Japan’s economy, the third-largest in the world after the U.S. and China, accounts for about 10 percent of U.S. exports.



Treasury prices jumped, sending yields to their lowest levels this year as investors piled into investments seen as being more stable. One measure of stock market volatility, the CBOE Market Volatility Index, jumped 18 percent in a sign that investors expect more wild swings.



The Dow Jones industrial average fell 242.12, or 2 percent, to 11,613.30. It was the worst drop since Aug. 11. The Dow has now lost 3.6 percent over the past three days, its worst three-day loss since last July.



The S&P index fell 24.99, or 1.9 percent, to 1,256.88. The S&P is now down 0.1 percent for the year, having been up as much as 6.8 percent in February. When dividends are included, however, the index has had a total return of 2.4 percent for the year, according to FactSet.



The Nasdaq composite index fell 50.51 or 1.9 percent, to 2,610. It is now down 1.4 percent for the year.



The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell as low as 3.15 percent, the lowest level this year. In late trading the yield edged up to 3.21 percent.



Japan temporarily suspended work at a stricken nuclear plant after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain there. That came a day after Japan’s prime minister said four crippled reactors at a nuclear power plant were leaking dangerous amounts of radiation.



In the U.S., homebuilders tumbled after the Commerce Department reported that new home construction fell to the second-lowest level on record in February, reflecting weak demand. Homebuilders Lennar Corp. and D.R. Horton Inc. each fell more than 2 percent.



Wholesale prices rose last month by the most in nearly two years due to higher energy costs and the biggest increase in food prices in 36 years. Shares of companies affected by higher food costs fell.



Three stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 5.8 billion shares.

Benchmark Currency Rates

        USD     EUR     JPY     GBP     CHF     CAD     AUD     HKD

HKD     7.8010  10.8449 0.0984  12.4808 8.6431  7.8694  7.6389  -

AUD     1.0212  1.4197  0.0129  1.6339  1.1315  1.0302  -       0.1309

CAD     0.9913  1.3781  0.0125  1.5860  1.0983  -       0.9707  0.1271

CHF     0.9026  1.2548  0.0114  1.4440  -       0.9105  0.8838  0.1157

GBP     0.6250  0.8689  0.0079  -       0.6925  0.6305  0.6120  0.0801

JPY     79.2395 110.159 -       126.776 87.7932 79.9349 77.5929 10.1577

EUR     0.7193  -       0.0091  1.1508  0.7970  0.7256  0.7044  0.0922

USD     -       1.3902  0.0126  1.5999  1.1079  1.0088  0.9792  0.1282

                                                              Bloomberg

Tags: Vietnam companies

Posted by VBN on Mar 17 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