Tokyo Down On U.S. Job Growth Concerns

Ivaylo
05 Jun, 2006
New York City

Other Asian benchmarks closed mixed. Indexes in Singapore, Malaysia and Korea managed slight advances. Exporters, often the first Asian shares to react to U.S. economic data, led the decliners of the downward trend. Taiwan stocks dived 3.51% as an impasse between the president and the ones calling for his resignation threatened to throw the country in political instability.

[R]7:30AM Japanese stocks finish lower, Singapore and Korea gain.[/R]
The Nikkei 225 closed at 15,668.31, down 0.77%, reversing about half of Friday''s advance. Video-game maker Nintendo fell 1.3% and optics and electronics company Nikon dropped 2.7%. Auto stocks plunged too, as Toyota shed 1.3% and Honda Motor fell 1.20%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index advanced 0.7% to 16,016.23. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-listed mainland shares rose 1.5%. Shares in Cathay Pacific and companies connected with unlisted Dragonair were suspended from trading Monday morning after the Hong Kong Standard business newspaper said that Cathay Pacific almost finalized a deal to take over Dragonair. In Hong Kong afternoon trading, the Bank of China gained 2.16%, while local subsidiary BOC Hong Kong advanced 1.02% after an upgrade by Merrill Lynch. Elsewhere in the region, Korea''s Kospi index fell 0.6% and Singapore''s Straits Times Index was down 0.4%. Australia''s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8%, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.9% due to miners on both exchanges profiting from a rebound in metal prices.

[R]6:30AM Europe falls, struck by oil prices and weak dollar.[/R]
Stocks with the greatest exposure to the plunging dollar suffered the worst in early trade. Luxury goods makers, which are closely connected to the US export market, dropped – led by Luxottica, the Italian designer eyewear company, losing 2.4%. LVMH, the French maker of Louis Vuitton fashion accessories, shed 1.4%, while Christian Dior dropped 0.5%. Carmakers, were also struck by advancing raw materials costs. Of the German groups, DaimlerChrysler dropped 1.4%, BMW fell 1.1% and Volkswagen shed 1.2%. French Renault declined 1%, and Peugeot lost 1%.

Light, sweet crude oil for July delivery advanced $1.02 to $73.35 a barrel and July Brent crude futures on London''s ICE Futures advanced $1.03 to $72.06 per barrel. In morning trading, the dollar fell against the euro. The European currency advanced to $1.2979 - the highest it has been since May 5 last year. It then pulled back slightly to $1.2957, up from $1.2917 late Friday in New York. The British pound advanced to $1.8856 from $1.8828 on Friday, while the dollar edged up slightly to buy 111.78 Japanese yen, from 111.62 in New York.

[R]5:00AM Gold prices rose on Friday helped by weak U.S. job data.[/R]
August gold on the NYME advanced $7.50 to close at $641 an ounce, after rising to $644 an ounce. July silver finished 18 cents higher at $12.085 an ounce. The most-traded July copper contract advanced 11.55 cents to finish at $3.5865 per pound.

Oil prices rose more than $2 a barrel Friday on a wave of buying sparked by domestic and international supply concerns. July crude oil advanced $2.36 to a high of $72.70 a barrel, the highest intra-day level for a front-month contract since May 11. July gasoline closed up 7.03 cents at $2.1975 a gallon. On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee closed 1.30 cents up at $1.0125 a pound. Raw sugar in foreign ports futures for July ended up 0.07 cent at 15.21 cents a pound.