Auto Stocks Lead Japan Higher

Ivaylo
02 May, 2007
New York City

Asian markets closed higher Wednesday, with Japanese markets finishing higher on gains in the auto sector, while Australia was boosted by a record Dow Jones Industrial Average finish. Auto shares helped boost stocks in Japan, as Mazda reported strong earnings results, while HK gained on HSBC Holdings advance. Sydney was buoyed by gains from BHP Billiton and other natural resource shares.

[R]9:00AM Asian markets end higher on Wednesday, as Japan advanced on auto stocks.[/R]
Asian markets advanced on Wednesday. In Japan, the 225-issue Nikkei Average finished 0.69% to 17,394.92. Shares of Mazda rose 3.6%, gaining for a second day, after the company reported earlier in the week that group net profit jumped 24% in the January-to-March quarter, helped by stronger sales of its new sport-utility vehicle. Bridgestone rose 2.8% after the company reported a 3.6% rise in first-quarter net profit.

Not all auto makers ended higher. Nissan Motor declined 1% after the company announced its U.S. sales for the Nissan and Infiniti brands dropped 18% on an unadjusted basis in April from a year earlier. Toyota Motor also dipped 0.3% after its U.S. sales lost 4.3% in April from the year earlier, while Honda Motor was off 0.7% after the company said its U.S. subsidiary saw total sales of cars and trucks fall 9.1%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ended 0.3% higher at 20,388.49. HSBC Holdings rose 0.8% after Dubai International Capital said it had bought a substantial stake and thus marked the second major investment in the British Bank by a Middle Eastern interest in recent weeks. Cheung Kong Holding advanced 1.6%, following broad gains in property developers, after local real estate bodies announced total sales turnover in April was likely the strongest in a year.

Australian S&P/ASX 200 settled up 1.5% to 6,237.70. BHP Billiton and other natural resource shares led the advancers after copper prices reached their highest level in a week. BHP Billiton gained 1.9% after July copper futures advanced 2.2% in New York trading Tuesday, on worries a labor dispute in Peru could disrupt the metals production.

South Korean Kospi index added 0.72% to 1,553.30. The Singapore Straits Times Index jumped 1.7% to close at 3,417.81, while Taiwan Weighted Price Index ended up 0.35% at 7,903.04.

[R]6:30AM European markets were higher Wednesday on strong media sector.[/R]
European markets advanced in early trade on Wednesday. By mid morning, Frankfurt Xetra Dax was 0.5% higher at 7,446.05, the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.5% to 5,989.09, and London FTSE 100 climbed 0.8% to 6,471.8. National benchmarks increased in all 16 western European markets that were open except for Sweden and Austria.

Advancers

London-listed BSkyB, which is 39% owned by News Corp, advanced 5.5% after posting better-than-expected customer growth in its third quarter. M6, the French commercial television broadcaster, gained 1% after reporting a 9.7 % increase in first-quarter sales. Other companies in the sector also gained including, Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer rose 2.9%, while French peer Lagardere added 2.4%.

Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugs company, advanced 4.5% after reporting a better-than-expected 24% rise in first-quarter operating profit on strong growth in its European and North American markets. German household goods maker Henkel advanced 3.3% after it stated full-year sales growth would be at the upper end of estimates

Decliners

More potential deal news were at the center of attention on the stock exchanges. Shares of NYSE Euronext declined 3.5% after it disclosed in a filing that it has entered into a $3 billion syndicated revolving credit facility, which has prompted at speculation that it may gate-crash Deutsche Boerse agreed $2.8 billion acquisition of the International Securities Exchange. Deutsche Boerse shares declined 4.2%.

TeliaSonera AB fell 4.6%. The Swedish government announced it will sell a stake valued at about $2.9 billion in the biggest Nordic phone company to institutional investors as part of a plan to cede state holdings and reduce debt. Shire dropped 1%. The U.K. third-largest drugmaker will sell $1 billion in convertible bonds to fund the purchase of New River Pharmaceuticals.

Oil and precious metals

Crude oil advanced from a seven-day low on the expectation U.S. gasoline stockpiles declined last week as refiners shut units for repairs. Crude oil for June delivery rose to 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $64.67 in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil for June settlement rose to 36 cents, or 0.5%, to $67.36 a barrel on London ICE Futures exchange.

Gold was little changed in Asia as investors bet the sell-off yesterday in the precious metal as the dollar rallied was overdone. Silver gained. Gold for immediate delivery rose to $1.95, or 0.3%, to $675.40 an ounce. Silver for immediate delivery gained 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $13.28 an ounce.

Currencies

The dollar was higher against other major currencies in European trading Wednesday morning. The euro traded at $1.3578, down from $1.3620 late Tuesday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9933, down from $1.9996. The dollar fetched 120.09 Japanese yen, up from 119.72.

[R]5:30AM Corn rallied Tuesday, while gold and silver settled lower.[/R]
May corn advanced 9.50 cents to $3.6750 per bushel, July settled 10 cents higher at $3.77.50, and December rallied 14 cents to $3.7850. July wheat ended 17 cents lower at $4.9550 per bushel.

June gold ended down $6.20 at $677.30 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as well as July silver which lost 20.5 cents to $13.37 an ounce. July platinum finished up $2.50 at $1,300.90 an ounce, while June palladium settled up 15 cents at $374.15 an ounce. The most-active July copper contract gained 7.80 cents to settle at $3.6345 per pound.

The June crude oil contract ended down $1.31 at $64.40 a barrel after rising to $66.15 a barrel. June heating oil closed down 1.19 cents at $1.8829 a gallon. June gasoline also finished down 1.47 cents at $2.2447 a gallon after reaching to $2.2950 a gallon. June natural gas settled down 14.5 cents at $7.718 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures May ended down 1.30 cents at $1.0185 a pound, with July off 1.30 cent at $1.0485. Most-active July cocoa settled up $36 at $1,834 a metric ton. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for July gained 0.04 cent to end at 9.14 cents a pound, with October down 0.01 cent at 9.44 cents.