Japan Ends Lower

Ivaylo
06 Jul, 2006
New York City

Asian markets closed mixed Thursday with Japan markets closing lower due to reports that North Korea is gearing up for test-launching more missiles which brought about fears of brewing regional instability. Real estate and consumer finance companies dragged the market down.

[R]7:30AM Asian markets finished mixed, Japan down on N.Korea missile tests.[/R]
Asian markets finished mixed on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 202.54 points, or 1.3%, to 15321.40. Consumer-finance companies were the big decliners, with Credit-card issuer OMC Card the biggest percentage decliner, plummeting 10%. Consumer-finance sector Takefuji slumped 5.7%. Real-estate stocks also came under fire. Sumitomo Realty & Development shed 2.4%, Mitsui Fudosan lost 1.6%, and Mitsubishi Estate was off 2.0%. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, ended down 1.2%, or 15.89 points, at 1263.96, having its fourth-consecutive session of losses. LG.Philips LCD shed 3.4%, while Samsung Electronics dropped 0.8%. Kookmin Bank dropped 1.6%, and the auto maker Hyundai Motor dropped 1.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.1% to end at 16440.99. Chinese computer-maker Lenovo Group gained as much as 4%. Taiwan''s Weighted index finished flat at 6659.07, while China share prices soared to a two-year high as investors returned to the market, buying big capitalized shares following recent declines. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.33% to 1741.47.

[R]6:30AM European shares gain ground on oil rally.[/R]
European markets were higher by mid-morning. The U.K. FTSE 100 index climbed 0.4% at 5,851, the German DAX Xetra 30 index rose 0.3% at 5,642 and the French CAC-40 index gained 0.4% at 4,940. On the corporate front, leading energy producers advanced. BP gained 1.5%, Royal Dutch Shell rose 1.1% and Total advanced 1.4%. Germany''s Bayer slipped 1.2% following its statement that it would sell 34 million shares to fund its acquisition of healthcare peer Schering. France''s Veolia Environnement dipped 1.9% after Vivendi disclosed plans to place its final 5% stake in the company, breaking the remaining ties to what was formerly called Compagnie Générale des Eaux. British bread company RHM advanced 1.1% to 271 pence after private equity firm Doughty Hanson said that it would place the remaining 93 million shares, or 26.6% of RHM, at 266 pence a share.

Oil held near record highs above $75 a barrel, supported by worries over Iran''s nuclear program and expectations of a drop in U.S. gasoline stockpiles as the summer season gets into gear. Gold hit a high of $628.30 an ounce before retreating to $624.00/624.70 by 0947 GMT, down from $627.40/628.10 in New York late on Wednesday, when gold advanced nearly $6. The dollar fell slightly against the European currency. The euro inched up to $1.2735 from $1.2732 as traders awaited a meeting of the European Central Bank later in the day. The dollar was trading at 115.48 yen, down 0.23 yen from late Wednesday in New York.

[R]5:30AM Precious metals advance on geopolitical tensions over N.Korea tests.[/R]
August gold finished up $13.70 to $629.70 a troy ounce on the NYME. September silver added 49.5 cents to $11.415 an ounce. October platinum added $6.90 to $1,248.60 an ounce, while September palladium advanced $4.20 to $327.70. The most-traded September copper contract gained 4.90 cents to close at $3.4040 per pound.

The front-month August crude-oil futures contract climbed $1.47 a barrel to an intraday high of $75.40 a barrel, the highest level for a front-month crude contract. August gasoline futures advanced 6.12 cents to $2.28 a gallon. August heating oil rose 3.40 cents to close at $2.0626 a barrel. On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee futures finished down 0.15 cent at $1.0185 a pound, while September lost 0.05 cent to $1.0345 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October ended up 0.40 cent at 17.02 cents a pound while March rose 0.38 cent to 17.32 cents a pound.