Japan Rises, South Korea Dips

Ivaylo
11 Jun, 2007
New York City

Asian markets finished mostly higher Monday with Japanese stocks gaining on exporters Toyota and Fanuc and other large-caps after economic data which showed that the economy grew faster than expected. HK and China also ended higher while South Korea declined. Australia was closed on Monday for a public holiday.

[R]8:30AM Asia ends higher on Monday with Japanese export stocks leading advance.[/R]

Asian markets finished mostly higher on Monday. The Nikkei Average ended at 17,834, advancing 0.3%. Japanese economy rose 0.8% in the three months ending March 31 compared with the previous quarter, up from an earlier estimate of 0.6% growth.

Nikon Corp. climbed on hopes that corporate spending will remain strong, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 0.7%, tracking gains among Japanese banking shares. Carmakers led the advance. Toyota rose 0.9%, Nissan Motor climbed 2% and Honda Motor gained 2.2%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ended 0.5% higher at 20,615. Property stocks led the advancers ahead of a key land auction Tuesday. In company news, Ericsson signed a $1 billion deal to supply China Mobile with core and networking equipment for expanded GSM services. China Mobile advanced 0.8%, while cellular service providers China Unicom gained 5.8% and China Telecom added 2.4%. Gainers among property stocks included Hang Lung Group, which rose 3.2%.

South Korean Kospi index bucked the uptrend and dipped 0.6% to 1,717. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 2.1% higher at 3,996. Singapore Straits Times Index was up 1.5%, Taiwan Weighted Price Index added 0.5% and Malaysia KLSE Composite rose 0.6%. New Zealand NZX-50 also closed 0.5% higher at 4,205.51. Markets in Australia and Philippines were closed Monday.

[R]7:30AM -6:30PM Mumbai Sensex finishes higher, erases gains on late sell-off.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE finished Monday 19.60 points higher, or 0.14%, at 14,083.41.

The market-breadth, which was strong in the morning session, turned negative in late trading. As 1,160 stocks advanced, 1,375 declined and 86 stocks remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 12 advanced, while all the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 3,484 crore, much lower than Rs 4,618 crore on Friday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 7670 crore, also lower than Rs 10,577 crore on Monday.

Economic news

New issue, property developer DLH managed to sell all its institutional part of its IPO, which is Rs 9625 crore, within an hour. The IPO is 10.27% of the capital of the company.

The rupee gained 0.7% against the euro, today. The euro was at Rs 54.60 today, from Rs 54.99 on Friday. The dollar bought Rs 40.91 today, as compared with Rs 40.98 on Friday.

Trading highlights

Reliance was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 114.50 crore followed by Nitin Fire and Reliance Communications.

Advancers

Hero Honda soared over 3% to Rs 703. Cigarette company ITC and metal large-cap Hindalco surged 2% each to Rs 154 and Rs 161, respectively. Hero Honda declined in the past few sessions on worries of slowing sales.Hindalco gained for the fourth time in a row on speculation that the company may become a bod target for Alcan and Sterlite.

HDFC and Infosys rallied around 1.5% each to Rs 1,779 and Rs 1,980, respectively. Index heavy Reliance Industries advanced 0.5% to Rs 1,668.

Decliners

Reliance Communications and Grasim were the leading decliners, shedding around 2% each to Rs 505 and Rs 2,347, respectively. Other declining large-caps were State Bank of India down 1.3% to Rs 1,340, and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation which lost 0.3% to Rs 862.

ICICI Bank lost 0.4% to Rs 900. ICICI Bank''s follow-on public issue in the range of Rs 10000-Rs 11000 crore, will be open in the third week of June 2007. Dr.Reddy''s and Tata Steel lost around 1% each at Rs 625 and Rs 580, respectively.

[R]6:30AM European markets advance Monday with bid talks about Centrica in focus.[/R]

European markets gained on Monday. By mid-day, the German DAX Xetra 30 index gained 0.9% at 7,657.99, the French CAC-40 index added 0.8% at 5,932.58 and the U.K. FTSE 100 index advanced 0.5% at 6,534.90. National benchmarks advanced in all 17 western European markets that were open.

Advancers

Gas group Centrica surged 4.4% after a report that Gazprom deputy chief executive, Alexander Medvedev, said at a St. Petersburg conference that there will be a deal announced during the Wimbledon tennis tournament to boost Gazprom presence in Britain.

BHP Billiton Ltd. led advancers in the mining sector after UBS AG said mergers and acquisitions in the industry will continue to speed up. BHP Billiton rose 0.6%. UBS raised its price estimate for shares of the world biggest mining company. Rio Tinto Group, the third-biggest mining company, climbed 1.3%.

ThyssenKrupp AG gained 4%. The world biggest stainless steelmaker is interested in either U.S. Steel Corp. or Russian Severstal to expand.

Barclays, the London-based bank striving to acquire ABN Amro in the biggest financial-services takeover, rose 2.5% after reports yesterday that hedge fund Atticus Capital acquired shares of Barclays and met with the London-based bank to discuss withdrawing from the deal.

Decliners

Rexam dropped 3.2%. The maker of packaging for companies including Givenchy and L''Oreal SA announced it will acquire the plastics unit of Owens-Illinois for $1.83 billion.

Telelogic, software design systems company, dropped 0.5%. International Business Machines Corp., the world largest computer-services provider, agreed to acquire the Malmoe, Sweden-based company for $743 million.

Commodities

Crude oil traded little changed, below $65 a barrel in New York, on expectations U.S. gasoline supplies will rise and increasing interest rates will slow demand for commodities. Crude oil for July delivery was trading at $64.92 a barrel, up 16 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline for July delivery rose 1.49 cents, or 0.7%, to $2.142 a gallon in New York. Brent crude for July settlement was at $68.58 a barrel, down 2 cents, on the ICE Futures exchange.

Gold for immediate delivery rose 0.5% to $651.89 an ounce, and traded at $651.85. Silver for immediate delivery climbed 5 cents, or 0.4%, to $13.15 an ounce.

Currencies

The dollar gained on the euro again Monday as doubts that the U.S. Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates continue. The euro bought $1.3347 in morning European trading, down from $1.3373 in New York late Friday. The British pound declined to $1.9666 from $1.9700. The dollar was marginally lower against the Japanese yen, slipping to 121.61 yen from 121.70 yen.

[R]5:30AM – 4:30PM Mumbai Sensex advances 170 points in mid-afternoon trade on Monday.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE is about 170 points higher in mid-afternoon trading.

The market-breadth is strong as 1,509 have advanced, 912 have declined and 100 are unchanged.

Economic news

The rupee advanced again versus the U.S. dollar on Monday on capital inflows. In early trade on Monday the dollar bought 40.9850, up from 41.1150 per dollar on Friday.

Property developer DLF Ltd sold its institutional part of its IPO for $2.4 billion withing an hour on Monday.

Advancers

HDFC has 3.5% to Rs 1,812. ITC and Hero Honda have surged 3% each to Rs 155 and Rs 701, respectively. IT stocks were in demand. Satyam Computers advanced 2.2% to Rs 505, Infosys was up 1.9% to Rs 1,987, Wipro gained 0.9% to Rs 552, and TCS gained 0.5% to Rs 1,226, edged higher. Hindalco and HDFC Bank have rallied 2.3% each to Rs 161 and Rs 1,117, respectively. Index heavy Reliance Industries advanced 1.8% to Rs 1,692.

Decliners

Auto stocks Tata Motors, 0.4% lower to Rs 651, and Maruti Udyog, declining 0.4% to Rs 734, lost after news that most auto companies were reducing production on weaker demand.