Japan, HK Surge

Ivaylo
16 Aug, 2006
New York City

Asia ended on a positive note after milder-than-expected U.S. inflation data gave hope that interest rates would continue to hold steady. Investors are still waiting for consumer price data which will come out tonight.Other markets around the region also finished higher including South Korea, China, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore. Only Malaisia bucked the trend and finished lower.

[R]7:30AM Japanese and Hong Kong markets finished higher Wednesday.[/R]
Asian markets ended higher on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 Index ended up 1.61% to 16,071.36. It had not finished above 16,000 since May 19. Electronics conglomerate Hitachi Ltd jumped 3.81% and top PC-maker NEC Corp advanced 4.75%. Nissan Motor led the carmaker gainers, advancing 2.59%. Toyota Motor and Honda Motor also advanced mre than 2%. Sonu was off 1.15%, after Dell Inc. Announced it was recalling more than 4 million laptops made by Sony.

Hong Kong''s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.02% to close 17,451.03, its best finish since September 2000. Property stocks led advancers, with New World Development and Hang Lung Properties making the largest gains on hopes a continued pause in U.S. interest rate hikes would help real-estate sales in Hong Kong''s dollar-pegged economy. South Korea''s Kospi index moved up 1.58%. Key exporters Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors gained both more than 2%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.52%. Leading insurer QBE Insurance Group advanced on strong first-half earnings and miner BHP Billiton gained despite an ongoing strike at its Escondida copper mine in Chile.

[R]6:30AM European markets can''t hold on to earlier gains.[/R]
Europe was lower by mid-morning. The U.K. FTSE 100 index lost 0.1% at 5,892, while the German Dax lost 5.3 points, or 0.1%, at 5,770.98 and the French CAC 40 was almost flat, 0.8 points lower at 5,114.18. European corporate movers included German chemicals group Lanxess advancing 1.4% after posting a forecast-beating second-quarter profit rise. On the downside, U.K. nuclear energy group British Energy lost 3.7% after posting sharply higher profit figures but lower output.

Also, Swiss medical device maker Synthes shed 2.1% following its statement that its half-year net profit increased 8.3% to $243.3 million, while sales rose 13.8% to $1.17 billion. Also, Dutch bank ABN Amro advanced 0.8% after rival Dutch bank ING upgraded it to buy from hold, on expectations of more restructuring at its wholesale arm.

Light sweet crude oil for September delivery dropped 7 cents to $72.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME. October Brent at London''s ICE Futures exchange, which moves to the front month from Thursday, lost 18 cents to $73.59 a barrel. The euro rose slightly against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, trading in a narrow range as market participants awaited U.S. consumer price data later in the day. The dollar advanced slightly against the British pound, which slipped to $1.8922 from $1.8936 the evening before, and fell against the Japanese yen, to 116.09 yen from 116.12 the day before.

[R]5:30AM Gold fell Tuesday on Low Inflation and Ceasefire.[/R]
December gold futures ended $6.40 lower at $632.90 a troy ounce. September silver contract finished 7.5 cents lower at $12.085 an ounce. October platinum settled up $8.10 at $1,241.40 an ounce. September palladium closed up $6.40 at $324.70 an ounce. September copper moved down 0.95 cent at $3.5275 per pound.

September light, sweet crude oil settled down 48 cents at $73.05 a barrel. September gasoline settled up 0.11 cent at $1.9916 a gallon. September natural gas finished down 5.2 cents at $6.861 per million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, September Arabica coffee ended 2.10 cent higher at $1.0285 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October finished 0.29 cent higher at 12.79 cents a pound.