Japan Loses, China, HK Gain

Ivaylo
02 Mar, 2007
New York City

Asian markets closed mostly lower, with Japan dipping more than 1%, as the market extended losses after a week of declines, but HK and Shanghai bucked the trend on bargain-hunting. Japanese stocks fell on exporters on worries that the U.S. economy might be slowing. Shares in Shanghai rose as investors took to bargain large-caps while in Hong Kong, bargain-hunting for Chinese telecommunication stocks led shares higher.

[R]9:00AM Asia finishes lower on Friday with Japanese stocks continuing the slide.[/R]
Asian markets finished mostly lower on Friday. The Nikkei 225 stock index lost 1.35%, to finish at 17,217.93. Sony dived 5.5% on weakness in the dollar versus the yen. The electronics company agreed overnight to end a $100-million patent battle with U.S. Immersion over vibration technology for game controllers and other products. Sanyo Eletric fell 2.6% on news that Lenovo Group and the Japanese consumer-electronics maker are recalling about 205,000 batteries used in Lenovo ThinkPad notebook computers.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index in China gained 1.2% to close at 2,831.53. Among the most actively traded companies, property developer China Vanke advanced 2.7% after shedding 5% in the previous session. Citic Securities, which was down 5.6% Thursday, surged 5.5% and Air China added 4%, regaining most of the 5.2% loss a day earlier.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.49% to 19,442.01. China Mobile rose 0.5% after investment bank UBS raised its target price for China biggest mobile operator by subscribers. China Unicom was up 1.6% and China Netcom climbed 1.7% after both fell 8% during the past four sessions.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, slipped 0.2% to 1,414.47, the Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange shed 0.1%, to close at 7,670.77, while Australian stocks suffered their fourth straight day of losses as the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 0.4% to 5,786.0.

[R]6:30AM European markets were lower Friday on Adecco, Mediaset.[/R]
European markets were lower on Friday. Frankfurt Xetra Dax was 0.5% lower at 6,609.7 the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.6% to 5,425.07 and London FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% to 6,102.

Advancers

Philips, the Dutch electronics group, led technology stocks higher. The company shed more than 8% over the previous three sessions after a trade dispute with Taiwan over recordable compact disc patents. The shares surged 2.5%.

UK supermarket Tesco gained 0.9% after investment group Berkshire Hathaway said it had taken a 2.9% stake. Air Liquide, the French industrial gases group, gained 1.7% after ING raised its price target following the group strong five-year outlook.

Decliners

Mediaset, the Italian broadcaster, fell 5.9% after downgrades from Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Citigroup after reporting on Thursday that its 2006 net income profit fell on lower advertising revenues. Merrill Lynch lowered its rating to neutral.

Staffing company Adecco declined 4% after it posted revenue growth a bit below forecasts, with a 23% increase in Q4 net profit to 212 million euros largely due to a one-time tax benefit. Lagardere shed 5 % as investors corrected a 6.7 % rise in the previous session, on what was thought by dealers to have been an erroneous trade.

Oil and gold

Oil prices gained Friday on concerns about tightening gasoline supplies. Crude oil for April delivery rose 21 cents to $62.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by noon in Europe. Brent crude for April gained 37 cents to $62.48 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Gold opened Friday at a bid price of $662.30 a troy ounce, down from $670.10 late Thursday.

Currencies

The euro lost a little more ground Friday against the dollar, which built on gains made as positive U.S. economic data helped calm traders in US. The euro bought $1.3164 in morning European trading, down from $1.3198 in New York late Thursday. The British pound fell to $1.9542 from $1.9605. The dollar edged up to 117.69 Japanese yen from 117.58 yen.

[R]5:30AM Gold and silver declined Thursday on late trade liquidation.[/R]
April gold declined $7.40 to $665.10 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May silver lost 58.5 cents to end at $13.65 an ounce. April platinum also dipped $11.20 to close at $1,245.20 an ounce, while June palladium settled down $2.55 at $354.05 an ounce. Most-active May copper advanced 0.25 cent too end at $2.7545 per pound.

The April crude oil contract added 21 cents to $62 a barrel. April heating oil lost 0.18 cent at $1.7763 a gallon, while April gasoline settled up 3.62 cents at $1.9101 a gallon after trading as high as $1.9170 a gallon, the highest level for a front month contract since late August. April natural gas declined 1.2 cents to close at $7.288 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, March Arabica coffee futures contract closed down 1.70 cents at $1.16 a pound, with May off 1.90 cents at $1.1660. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for May settled up 0.41 cent at 10.97 cents a pound, with July up 0.34 cent at 10.81 cents.