Asian Markets Rebound

123jump.com Staff
09 Aug, 2007
New York City

Asian markets rebounded with a third record close in Shanghai. Hong Kong fell a fraction after scoring the largest single day gain in six years. Banks lifted the indexes in the China region. Australia gained for the record day. Jobless rate in Australia fell to 4.3%. Pakistan fell sharply on the worries that emergency rule may be imposed. Korea Bank raised the rates to 5%.

[R]8:30AM New York, 8:30 PM Hong Kong – Asian markets rebounded led by a rise in Shanghai, Japan, and Australia.[/R]

Asian markets closed higher tracking New York and European markets. Singapore led the region with a gain of 3.37% followed by 1.03% rise in Australia, 0.91% gain in Taiwan, and 0.83% increase in Japan. Pakistan led the decliners with a loss of 2.8% followed by 2.38% fall in Thailand, and 1.4% decline in India. Indonesia fell 0.94% and Hong Kong lost 0.4%.

In Hong Kong trading stocks fell after rising sharply in the previous session. Daily turnover on the main board was recorded at HK$ 85.2 billion and on GEM market was reported at HK$ 1.1 billion. Hang Seng held higher ground in the morning hours but fell in the last thirty minutes of trading. Banks led the decliners. ICBC declined 0.8% and HSBC dropped 0.1%. China Life led the listed stocks in daily turnover with a loss of 0.32% and CCT Tech International jumped 7.5% leading the stocks with a volume of 895 million shares.

Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2% to close at 4,754.10, third record high in as many days. Banks led the gainers in the hope of better earnings.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 gained 64.8 or 1.06% to 6,165.60. Of the total 201 stocks in the index, 143 gained, 56 declined, and 2 remained unchanged.

Adelaide Bank led the stocks in the index with a rise of 14.6% followed by 8% gain in Straits Resources, ROC Oil, and Bank Queensland. Monadelphous Group led the decliners in the index with a fall of 7% followed by 6% decline in Telstra, 4.6% loss in Pacific Brands, and 4% decrease in PMP Ltd and SIMS Group.

Employment report for the month of July showed that 21,700 new jobs added to payroll on top of 21,800 in June. Unemployment level held steady at 4.3%. New Zealand second quarter unemployment level fell to 3.6% according a report released today.

[R]7:00AM New York, 8:00PM Tokyo – Market indexes in Tokyo climb for the third day tracking rises in New York. Strong earnings reports have lifted market sentiment.[/R]

Nikkei 225 index closed up 141.32 or 0.83% to 17,170.60 at close on strength in export sensitive stocks. Topix index increased 14.77 or 0.9% to close at 1,683.81. The trading on the first section of the exchange was heavy with 5.3 trillion yen value.

Of the 225 stocks in the index, 144 advanced, 79 declined, and 2 were unchanged.
Oki Electric led the index stocks with a gain of 11.5% followed by 10.5% rise in Fast Retailing, and 8% surge in Heiwa Real Estate and Toto Ltd. Nippon Soda led the decliners with a loss of 7.35% followed by 7% fall in Tosho Corporation, 6% decline in Kyowa Hakko, Nisshin Oil, and Meiji Dairies.

Arabic Oil Company known as AOC lifted its annual earnings forecast to 8 billion, up 60% from a year ago.

Weaker yen helped export sensitive stocks. Trend Micro surged 7% for the third day in a row after revising sales and earnings forecast for the current quarter. Citizen Holdings jumped 5% and Casio Computer surged 7%. Toshiba jumped 2.3%, Canon gained 1%, and Sony added 0.8%.

Real estate companies led the advancing stocks with 8.5% gain in Heiwa Real Estate, 7.3% gain in Mitsubishi UFJ, and 4.6% increase in Mitsui Sumitomo.

Yahoo Japan jumped 5.2%. The news report in the local press lifted Inpex Holdings 1.9%. The company is exploring LNG import terminal project in the northern Japan.

NTN Corp, Nippon Express, Japan Tobacco, and Kyocera fell 4% in the trading today.

Japan Tobacco reported its first quarter sales of 1.2 trillion yen, a decline of 5.4% from a year ago and net income fell 15.2% to 64.4 billion yen. Domestic sales fell 13% but international sales rose 25.3% limiting the net profit decline. The company revised its sales forecast for the year to 6.41 trillion yen from 4.89 trillion yen and net income was revised to 256 billion yen from 186 billion yen.

Fast Retailing soared 11% after the news that the company plans to drop its bid for the U.S. based retailer Barneys New York.

eAccess reported its earnings for the quarter ending in June 30. The earnings rose to 1,5 billion yen from 0.969 billion yen. Revenue jumped to 15 billion yen from 14.29 billion yen. The stocks surged 8% on the news.