Shawshank, VA 9/28/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Asian stock markets swung between gains and losses on Wednesday before closing on a mixed note, as risk-awry investors moved to the sidelines, awaiting greater clarity on how European policymakers intend to resolve the region's debt crisis.Commodities recouped some early losses and the euro held steady after European Commission President Jose Barroso ruled out the ouster of Greece from the euro region and called for more economic integration and power at European level to tackle the debt crisis.
The Japanese market rose marginally, as hopes that eurozone leaders would be able to increase their bailout package boosted export-related shares. With profit taking emerging in late trading, the benchmark Nikkei closed up 0.1 percent, while the broader Topix index added 0.7 percent.
Among exporter shares, Panasonic climbed 3.1 percent, Sony rose 1.9 percent, Olympus gained 1.1 percent and Toyota Motor closed up 0.7 percent. Realty stocks such as Nomura Real Estate Holdings and Mitsui Fudosan rose around 4 percent each on bullish analyst reports.
Softbank rallied 3.8 percent on bargain hunting, snapping five days of losses, while Fast Retailing tumbled 3.8 percent on profit taking after recent sharp gains. Drug makers came under selling pressure on a Barclays Capital report which predicted that the Japanese pharmaceutical sector will enter a "period of respite" because of ex-dividend dates and concerns over government drug price revisions from April 2012.
Astellas Pharma, Takeda Pharmaceutical and Eisai ended down between 0.5 percent and 4.1 percent. Japan Tobacco closed 2.9 percent lower in volatile trading after climbing to an almost 3-year high early in the session.
China's Shanghai Composite fell about a percent to its lowest levels in nearly 15 months, as early bargain hunting gave way to lingering global economic worries ahead of the week-long Chinese National Day holiday break beginning Oct. 1. Shares of rail-related companies such as China CNR Corp. and CSR Corp. lost around 2 percent each in the wake of a crash on one of Shanghai's newest subway lines on Tuesday that injured 271 people.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.7 percent, with banks pacing the declines.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9 percent, paring early gains, as news of fresh dissension within the European Union threatened to delay Greek bailout plans. The broader All Ordinaries index closed up 0.8 percent.
The Australian dollar eased slightly amid the absence of a clear plan to resolve the euro-zone debt crisis. Miners rose in follow-through buying after Tuesday's rally, with BHP Billiton gaining half a percent and Rio Tinto adding a percent. Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum rallied 3.5 percent and Santos posted a modest 0.3 percent gain after encouraging news from Europe sent world crude prices sharply higher overnight.
Consumer discretionary stocks saw fresh buying, with department store giant David Jones and fellow retailer Myer climbing over 4 percent each. Wesfarmers rose 1.1 percent after it agreed to sell its Premier Coal business in Western Australia to Chinese coal miner Yanzhou Coal Mining for AUD 296.8 million.
The big four banks were mixed with NAB rising 2.6 percent and Westpac climbing 2 percent, while ANZ slipped 0.3 percent and Commonwealth edged down 0.1 percent. Shares of Orica climbed 3.7 percent despite higher than permitted mercury vapour levels detected at its Botany site in Sydney.
South Korea's Kospi average swung between gains and losses before ending down 0.7 percent on profit taking as investors took a breather following the previous session's rally. The selling was driven by computer-driven prgramme transactions, analysts said.
Meanwhile, Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Seok-dong said today that global economic uncertainties are likely to persist for quite a long time due to a continued slump in the real economy.
Hyundai Motor, South Korea's biggest automaker lost a percent, while its affiliate Kia Motors eased 0.3 percent. Memory chipmaker Hynix fell 3.3 percent, while Samsung Electronics edged up 0.4 percent on optimism over its third-quarter earnings. LG Electronics rose 2.5 percent after the company said it had filed a lawsuit with a South Korean court seeking to block local branches of BMW AG and Audi AG over the use of lighting products made by Siemens unit Osram that infringe its patents.
New Zealand's NZX-50 index crept 0.2 percent higher, extending gains for a second day in a row, as concerns eased that the Greek debt crisis might spread to the rest of Europe. OceanaGold climbed 5.8 percent, extending recent gains as gold prices stabilized after recent meltdown.
Dual-listed financial stocks such as Westpac and AMP rose around 2 percent each and national carrier Air New Zealand gained 0.9 percent, while Heartland, the would-be bank, led the decliners on the exchange, falling 4 percent. Jeweler Michael Hill International fell 3.5 percent and resins maker Nuplex lost 2.7 percent on turning ex-dividend.
Elsewhere, India's Sensex was last trading down half a percent on profit taking after climbing 3 percent the day before. Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.9 percent, but the markets in Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia edged up, posting gains between 0.5 percent and 1.1 percent.
PennyPayDay Disclaimer
No comments:
Post a Comment