Nikkei at New 34-year High, Hong Kong Stocks Extend Losses Ahead of Lunar New Year Holidays

Arjun Pandit
09 Feb, 2024
Mumbai

In Asia, market indexes in Japan advanced 1%, and the benchmark indexes surpassed 37,000, a new 34-year high, in the hopes that the Bank of Japan is not ready to hike interest rates.

The Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Shinchi Uchida clarified that the central bank is not ready to increase rates aggressively even when the monetary stance is revised and the rate hike campaign begins.

The Nikkei 225 index gained 0.2% to 36,951.38 and cross 37,000 in intra-day trading for the first time since 1990. 

The Nikkei index advanced 2.5% this week and extend its gain for the year so far to 11%.

SoftBank soared 9% to ¥8,016.0 after the company's US-listed British chipmaker Arm Holdings reported revenue in its latest quarter that surpassed the company's expectations.

SoftBank owns about 90% of Arm Holdings.

Tech stocks in Tokyo trading advanced following the surge in SoftBank, and Renesas Electronics, Screen Holdings, and Keyence jumped between 0.5% and 5.5%.

Nissan Motor plunged 11.3% to ¥554.40 after the Japanese automaker highlighted its business difficulties in China and lowered its annual unit sales estimate.

Nissan retained its fiscal year operating income to 620 billion yen, and a more profitable product mix is expected to offset its decline in annual vehicle sales outlook to 3.55 million from 3.7 million.

The Japanese automaker is facing intense price competition in China, and vehicle sales dropped 26% in the first nine months of the fiscal year, offset by a 19% increase in sales to 247,000 in the final quarter ending in December after the company improved regional focus to improve electric vehicle sales.  

 

Hong Kong Indexes Extend 3-Day Losses Ahead of Lunar New Year Holidays

Markets in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Indonesia are closed for Lunar New Year holidays.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong declined 1% and extended losses for the third day after a short-lived market enthusiasm fizzled following the market reform announcements and intervention by China.

Financial markets will be closed Friday and all next week in mainland China, and markets in Hong Kong will close after mid-day Friday and resume trading on Wednesday, February 14.

Alibaba Group, Baidu, JD.com, Tencent, and Meituan declined between 1% and 2.5% amid weakness in tech stocks ahead of the long weekend.

Longfor Group, China Resources Land, and China Vanke dropped between 2.5% and 7%.

 

India Indexes Trim Weekly Gains

Stocks in Mumbai traded down, and investors reacted to the latest batch of mixed earnings.

The Sensex and the Nifty indexes turned lower and extended weekly losses a day after the Reserve Bank of India held its key lending rates.

Market sentiment was weak after the central bank cited underlying inflation risks and cautioned that prices could flare up because of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East impacting ocean freight traffic in the Red Sea Lanes.

Investors also reacted to mixed earnings from LIC, JK Lakshmi, Grasim, SKF India, Apollo Hospitals, Balrampur Chini Mills, and Zomato.

Telecom stocks were in focus after the Union Cabinet approved the auction of wireless spectrum amounting to a cumulative reserve price of ₹96,317 crore.

The Sensex index decreased 108.11 points to 71,317.57, and the Nifty index fell 63.40 points to 21,655.55.

On the Mumbai stock exchange, 297 stocks traded at their 52-week highs and 28 stocks traded at their 52-week lows.

The yield on the 10-year Indian government bonds held steady at 7.08%, and the Indian rupee strengthened ₹82.96 against the U.S. dollar.

Life Insurance Corp. gained 6.5% to ₹1,112.0 after the company reported its quarterly results.

Net premium income in the December quarter increased 4.6% to ₹1.16 lakh crore, and net profit rose 49.10% to ₹9,444 crore.

Zomato Ltd. added 1.4% to ₹142.0 after the food delivery company reported its latest quarterly results.

Total revenue in the December quarter jumped 69% to ₹3,288 crore, and the company swung to a consolidated net profit of ₹138 crore from a loss of ₹90.98 crore a year ago.