Asia Higher On Commodities

Ivaylo
14 Sep, 2006
New York City

Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday, led by the Nikkei Average in Japan where an upbeat earnings outlook for office-equipment maker Canon Inc. and a stronger finish on U.S. markets lifted sentiment. Australia and South Korea also ended positive. Hong Kong and Taiwan were the only major markets to finish in the red.

[R]7:30AM Japanese commodities and U.S. markets lead Asia higher[/R]
Asian markets finished mostly higher on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 Average finished the day 1.22% higher at 15942.39. In Japan, stocks finished higher as commodity shares rebounded with trading houses and oil companies like Mitsubishi and refiner Show Shell Sekiyu gaining prominently. Mitsubishi, which has extensive energy and commodity interests, advanced 4.2% while Showa Shell Sekiyu ended trading 3.2% higher. Canon advanced 1.4% as a local media reported that the camera maker net profit is expected to climb 16% in the current fiscal year.

South Korea''s Kospi Index jumped 1.92% to 1358.75. Stocks in Seoul finished higher, mainly due to large program buying toward the end of the session as well as gains on U.S. markets. Technology shares gained, following overnight gains on U.S. markets. LG.Philips LCD posted the biggest gain, up 4.6%, followed by LG Electronics rising 3.2% and Samsung Electro-Mechanics gaining 2.6%.

The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.02% to close at 1689.69 and Australia S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.06% to 5070.40. Resource large-caps BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in Australia helped the stock market rise as they continued to recover after a selloff earlier in the week. BHP gained 2.2% and Rio Tinto advanced 0.9%.

Bucking the upward trend, Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ended 0.15% lower at 17183.45 and Taipei lost 0.99% to close at 6598.87. Shares in Hong Kong closed slightly lower as investors raised cash for some new listings, causing a strong two-day rally to cease. In Taiwan, stocks were led lower by technology firms.

[R]6:30AM European markets advance Thursday due to oil and retailers.[/R]
European stocks were higher on Thursday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index advanced 0.3% to 5,912, The German DAX Xetra 30 index rose 0.1% to 5,914, the French CAC-40 index increased 0.3% to 5,150. The large-cap oil companies advanced with BP gaining 1.3% and Total up 0.7%. Neste Oil, the Finnish refiner, advanced 1.3%.

Richemont jumped 2.4% as total sales for the five months ended in August advanced 16%, driven by growth across all its divisions and geographical regions. On the other hand, French supermarket operator Groupe Casino declined 1.9% after reporting first-half net income surged 28% as sales rose 17%. British retailer Kingfisher gained 3.4% after it said first-half net income was unchanged, but total retail sales climbed 6.6%.

Oil advanced for a second day after U.S. stockpiles declined more than expected and the State Department demanded sanctions on Iran. Crude oil for October delivery rose as much as 68 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $64.65 a barrel. Gold opened Thursday at a bid price of $588.70 a troy ounce, up from $587.00 late Wednesday.

The U.S. dollar was mostly lower against other major currencies in European trading Thursday morning. The euro bought $1.2700, up from $1.2692 late Wednesday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.8813, up from $1.8763. The dollar bought 117.71 Japanese yen, up from 117.56.

[R]5:00AM Gold and silver posted slight gains on Wednesday.[/R]
December gold gained $2 to settle at $596.30 a troy ounce on the NYME, while December silver advanced 6 cents to $11.20 an ounce. October platinum declined $22.70 to end at $1,185.80 an ounce while December palladium rose $6.25 at $318.35 an ounce. The most-active December copper climbed 1.20 cents at $3.3850 per pound.

October light, sweet crude oil gained 21 cents at $63.97 a barrel and October unleaded gasoline added 0.10 cent at $1.5531 a gallon. October heating oil sank 1.69 cents to finish at $1.7428 a gallon. October natural gas settled down 12.5 cents at $5.449 a million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures moved up 0.75 cent at $1.0440 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October rose 0.82 cent at 12.37 cents a pound.