Tech Exporters Drag Japan Down

Ivaylo
07 Aug, 2006
New York City

Japan slumped in afternoon trading, with tech exporters including Sony and Toshiba leading the market to heavy across-the board losses after the closure of a key Alaska oil field caused crude prices to soar. All major regional indexes fell, but for Hong Kong, which rose but only just. Australia also gained.

[R]7:30AM Japan falls due to slump in tech stocks and higher oil prices.[/R]
Asian markets finished mostly lower on Monday. Japan''s Nikkei 225 Average ended the day down 2.23% to 15,154.06. Sony Corp. lost 1.74%, Toshiba Corp. sank 1.79%, NEC Corp was off 2.75% and Hitachi Ltd fell 1.85%. Auto makers performed better. Toyota Motor which reported a record quarterly profit on Friday, advanced 0.99% and Honda Motor was up 0.26%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index advanced 0.39% to close at 16,953.55. Clothing retailer Giordano International Ltd surged 17.94% after the company confirmed over the weekend that Japan''s Fast Retailing was interested in acquiring a stake. CNOOC Ltd, offshore oil firm, gained 1.35%. Refiner and service-station operator Sinopec Corp. was up 1.16%.

South Korea''s Kospi index lost 1.15%. Samsung Electronics, the country''s largest exporter, fell 1.46%. Hyundai Motor, reporting Monday morning that second-quarter net profit fell 37%, dropped 0.52%.China''s Shanghai Composite settled down 1.45% due to weak demand for the institutional tranche of Air China''s $1 billion IPO suggesting that a wave of enthusiasm over new issues might be easing. Singapore''s Straits Times Index declined 0.17%, while Australia''s S&P/ASX 200 added up a 0.12% gain as commodity-related stocks including Rio Tinto and Woodside Petroleum gained

[R]6:30AM European markets were lower in morning trade due to oil prices rise.[/R]
European markets traded lower in morning sessions on Monday. The FTSE 100 declined 1% at 5,832.1, the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt slipped 1.5% to 5,635.12 and the CAC-40 in Paris was off 1.5% to 4,962.57. BP’s Alaskan closure cut output down by 400,000 barrels a day, 8% of US production, and pushed the price of crude oil back up above $76 a barrel. But despite the surging oil price, the sector was weaker. BP fell 1.8%.

Other oil producers also fell. OMV of Austria shed 0.8% and ENI of Italy sank 0.6%, Statoil of Norway bucked the downward trend gaining 0.6% as well as Neste Oil of Finland adding 0.3%. Low-cost airline EasyJet announced full-year revenues and costs would be slightly higher than expected but maintained its guidance for a 40-50 per cent rise in annual earnings. The company fell 1.2%.

Among insurance companies, Swiss Re was reported to be considering a bid for Scottish Widows, the insurance arm of Lloyds TSB. Swiss Re said it had no comment on the report. Lloyds TSB also declined to comment. LTSB fell 0.8% and Swiss Re shed 0.8%.

Light, sweet crude oil for September delivery was up $1.23 to $75.99 a barrel, while gold dealers in London fixed a recommended price of $647.25 bid per troy ounce at midmorning, down from $648.50 on Friday. The U.S. dollar was higher against most other major currencies in European trading Monday. The euro was quoted at $1.2856, down from $1.2875 late Friday in New York. The British pound bought $1.9058, down from $1.9082, while the greenback purchased 114.94 Japanese yen, up from 114.39.

[R]5:00AM Gold fell Friday due to profit-taking and weaker U.S. economic data.[/R]
December gold finished down $1 at $656 an ounce. Silver managed to hold its gains better than gold in spite of easing from an 8-week high of $12.65 an ounce reached during the session. September silver closed at $12.485, up 39.5 cents. October platinum ended up $9.50 at $1,256 an ounce after hitting a session high of $1,258 an ounce. September palladium ended up $2.85 at $327.50 an ounce. Speculation that the Federal Reserve may pause its interest rate hike program next week gave copper a boost to a fresh 2-week high. September copper settled up 14.30 cents at $3.6325 per pound.

September crude oil finished down 70 cents at $74.76 a barrel after falling to $74.15 per barrel earlier. The September gasoline contract settled down 6.19 cents to $2.2315 a gallon. September natural gas ended down 4.6 cents at $7.246 a million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, September Arabica coffee futures ended 0.40 cent lower at $1.0545 a pound. October futures for raw sugar in foreign ports finished up 0.13 cent at 14.41 cents a pound.