Asia Advances on BOJ Decision

Ivaylo
18 Jan, 2007
New York City

Most Asian indexes advanced on Thursday as Japanese exporters benefited from the decision of Bank of Japan to keep interest rates on hold, while China Mobile helped lead Hong Kong higher despite losses in Chinese banks and real-estate developers. Japanese media had reported Wednesday the central bank was likely to postpone any changes to interest rates until its February meeting. South Korea, Australia and Taiwan gained, while bucking the trend, the Shanghai Composite Index lost.

[R]7:30 AM Asian markets rose on Thursday as BOJ voted to leave rates unchanged.[/R]
Asian markets were mostly higher on Thursday. Japan''s Nikkei Index finished the day 0.6% higher at 17,371. Sumitomo Realty & Development moved 2.3% higher. Exporters also advanced on the rate decision. Honda Motor gained 1.9% and Nikon advanced 2.5%. Toyota Motor was up 0.8%. Shares of Mitsubishi Estate Co rose 1.2%.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index gained 1.1% to 20,278. China Mobile led the benchmark index higher, while Chinese banks declined on profit-taking and mainland property developers slipped. China Mobile ended 2.8% higher and HSBC rose 0.9%. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.8% to 2, 757. ICBC fell 3.5% and Bank of China was off 2.5%. China Merchants Property Development dropped 4.6% and Poly Real Estate Group plunged 6.9%.

Oil and gas shares gained after several days of losses, tracing gains in energy prices. Japanese Inpex Holdings rose 3.4% and Australian Woodside Petroleum gained 2.4%. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp advanced 0.2% after reporting Thursday it processed 4.6% more crude oil last year than in 2005.

Elsewhere around the region, South Korean Kospi Index advanced 0.3% to 1,383, Taipei ended 0.8% higher at 7,895 and Australian S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to close at 5,672. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, an index of mainland-incorporated shares listed in Hong Kong, declined 1.2% to 9,803.75.

[R]6:30 AM European markets gains on strength in oil shares, upbeat earnings.[/R]
European markets were higher on Thursday. By mid-morning, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 37 points, or 0.5% at 6,237.10, while the German Xetra Dax added 28 points, or 0.4%, at 6,729.78 and the French CAC 40 gained 34.8 points or 0.6% at 5,96.59.

Advancers

Dexia led advaners with a gain of 2.9% after the Franco-Belgian bank was upgraded from neutral to outperform by Exane BNP Paribas.

Alsthom added 2.4% after the French industrial group reported encouraging growth in new orders along with third quarter sales in-line with market expectations.

Merck was 0.6% higher after the German drugs and chemicals company beat analysts expectations with a 58 % increase in fourth-quarter operating profits, helped by a recovery in the sales of liquid crystals used in televisions and mobile phones.

Oil stocks gained, helped by a modest recovery in crude prices with Statoil of Norway 2.1% higher while Neste Oil of Finland added 1.3 %.

Decliners

Novartis dipped 0.4% after the Swiss drugs giant posted record full-year year of sales and profits but warned growth would slow in 2007 before picking up again from 2008.

Belgium supermarket group Delhaize declined 2.6% after it said that its fourth-quarter sales dipped 1% to 4.8 billion euros, mainly due to the U.S. dollar weakening against the euro. At constant exchange rates, sales would have risen by 4.6%

Oil and commodities

Crude oil for February delivery fell as much as 39 cents, or 0.8%, to $51.85 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $52.97 in early trade in London. Brent crude for March settlement dropped 12 cents at $52.67 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Gold for immediate delivery climbed $2.60, or 0.4%, to $634.40 an ounce in London. Silver rose 10.6 cents to $12.91 an ounce, palladium gained 50 cents to $339.50 an ounce and platinum advanced $8.50 to $1,156 an ounce.

Currencies

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading Thursday morning. The euro traded at $1.2940, up from $1.2932 late Wednesday. The British pound traded at $1.9724, up from $1.9691. The dollar was at 121.37 Japanese yen, up from 120.67.

[R]5:00 AM Gold gains Wednesday as crude oil strengthen and the dollar slips.[/R]
At settlement, the most-active February gold gained $7.40 to end at $633.30 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver futures advanced with gold and finished 26.5 cents higher at $12.89 an ounce. April platinum finished $8.80 stronger at $1,154.60 an ounce, and March palladium settled $7.10 higher at $342.95 an ounce. March copper futures were on the defensive for most of the session and shed 0.80 cents to settle at $2.5695 a pound.

Crude oil futures staged a late recovery and rose above $52 a barrel. The February crude contract gained $1.03 to close at $52.24 a barrel. February heating oil added 1.95 cents to finish at $1.4998 a gallon Wednesday. February gasoline settled at $1.3786 a gallon. February natural gas futures dipped 40.4 cents and ended at $6.234 a million British thermal units.

On the Chicago Board of Trade, soybean futures closed sharply higher. March soybeans ended 13.5 cents higher at $7.22 a bushel. In corn futures trading, the March contracts finished 5 cents higher to $4.08 per bushel. Arabica coffee futures finished slightly lower on the New York Board of Trade Wednesday, as March coffee closed 0.05 cent lower at $1.2160 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports declined, but they pared losses after trade house buying blunted a selloff. March sugar settled 0.15 cent lower at 10.76 cents a pound.