Asia Continues To Rebound

Ivaylo
15 Jun, 2006
New York City

Investors were on their guard, though, as key U.S. inflation data was posted after Asian markets ended their sessions. South Korea

[R]7:30AM Asian markets continue to advance, Japan leads the gainers.[/R]
Asian markets finished mostly higher. The Nikkei 225 Index advanced 1.13% to 14470.76. Bank, securities, tech stocks, real estate and mining shares were among the gainers due to investor confidence having been lifted by overnight trading on U.S markets. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group advanced 1.42%, and Advantest climbed 2.03%. Mitsui Mining & Smelting soared 10.28% and Sumitomo Realty & Development climbed 1.39%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also advanced 1.23% to 15435.08. After the market dropped 2,000 points in just a few weeks the market sentiment was firmly in upbeat mood. Some investors remained sceptical, looking at the rebound as more of a technical one. Shares in China, Singapore and Australia advanced too, but South Korea''s Kospi Index retreated from an initial 1.5% gain, shedding 0.5% to 1215.65. The bank sector lead the decline as foreign investors and institutions continued to worry about monetary tightening and global market weakness. Kookmin Bank dropped 1.2%, while Shinhan Financial edged down 1.3%. SK Telecom also fell 2.3%. Taiwan stocks also closed lower, as the Taipei Index shed 0.7% to 6426.39 due to profit-taking canceling some of Wednesday''s 2.1% climb.

[R]6:30AM European stocks make an early recovery on global market rise.[/R]
European markets opened higher in morning trading. The U.K. FTSE 100 index gained 1%, at 5,563, the German DAX Xetra 30 index advanced 1.2%, at 5,366, and the French CAC-40 index climbed 1.2%, at 4,669. On the corporate front, carmakers made gains after stronger than expected European car registrations data with Fiat adding 2.2%, while Renault climbing 1.4% and Volkswagen increasing 1.2%. DaimlerChrysler gained 1.4% and rival BMW edged up 0.9%. The aftereffects of EADS warning about delays to its Airbus A380 superjumbo have incited shareholders into revolt with the aerospace company, which is likely to remain under pressure. French regulators have made it clear that they will look at stock option sales in March by directors of EADS for any evidence of wrongdoing. Bargain hunters lifted EADS up 2.95%.

IPE Brent oil for July delivery advanced 75 cents to $67.73 a barrel in early London trade. The July contract expires at the end of the session. The August Brent contract advanced 66 cents to $69.15 a barrel. Gold jumped $16 to $574.00 a troy ounce, and silver moved above $10 a troy ounce after spending the past two sessions below this level. The dollar was lower against other major currencies in European trading Thursday morning. The euro was quoted at $1.2618, up from $1.2602 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar also dropped against the British pound, which climbed to $1.8448 from $1.8420 the day before. The dollar slid to 115.00 yen, from 115.05 the day before in New York.

[R]5:00AM Gold and silver bounce slightly back .[/R]
August gold ended down 30 cents to $566.50 per troy ounce on NYME. July silver gained 11 cents to $9.735 an ounce. July platinum finished up $20.40 to $1,138.90 an ounce, following Tuesday''s $52.90 sell-off. September palladium advanced $15.95 to $292.65 an ounce after a $39.05 decline Tuesday. The most-traded July copper contract added 4.55 cents to finish at $3.0560 per pound. On Tuesday, the contract had declined 21.80 cents.

July crude oil closed up 58 cents at $69.14 a barrel after trading between $68.10 and $69.40 a barrel. July natural gas rose 42.7 cents to finish at $6.590 a million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee settled 0.75 cent higher at 96.05 cents a pound and September advanced 0.50 cent to 98.45 cents a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for July closed down 0.01 cent at 14.71 cents a pound while October declined 0.05 cent to 15.05 cents a pound.