Friday 30 September, 10:00 AM BST (Thomson Financial): Asian markets ended
mostly lower on profit taking. Japan's market ended lower owing to some weak
economic data, while Hong Kong's market was flat as it consolidated previous
gains. Meanwhile, the Korean bourse fell on profit taking, following recent
gains, while Taiwan's market outperformed the region as investors followed
Wall Street higher, helped by local currency strength. Finally, the Australian
market fell on profit taking after the recent rally.
Tokyo's Nikkei-225 Index dropped 42.94 points or 0.32% to 13,574.30, while
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Stock Index eased 2.73 points or 0.02% to 15,428.52.
Korea's Kospi Index slipped 10.21 points or 0.83% to 1221.01, while Taiwan's
Weighted Index surged 108.62 points or 1.81% to 6118.61. Australia's All
Ordinaries fell 24.80 points or 0.54% to 4592.60.
Japan's market closed lower as investors locked in gains from the recent
run after the latest figures for industrial production turned out to be weaker
than expected. Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 1.2% in
August, rebounding from the 1.2% fall in July, however, the market had
expected a higher rise and this weighed on equities. The steel sector and ship
builders both suffered, while trading houses also dropped back following
recent strength.
The steel sector had risen sharply recently and was the subject of
correction as Kobe Steel, Sumitomo Metal and JFE Holding all fell heavily.
Ship builders Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries closed down, along with
Mitsui Engineering and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which also lost ground.
Trading houses, which had made strong gains earlier in the week, declined,
with Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Itochu all ending down. Technology stocks, which
had largely been overlooked in the large rise the previous day, were mixed,
but with notable rises coming from Advantest and Tokyo Electron, while Hitachi
Kokusai Electric gained particularly strongly.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, shares ended flat as the market consolidated
Thursday's gains. In the property sector, Sun Hung Kai Properties was down on
concerns that it would not make money from a luxury residential project on a
site that it purchased in Tuesday's government land auction, while Hang Lung
Properties and Henderson Land were both flat. Banks were largely flat, with
HSBC Holdings slightly up but BOC falling, while Hang Seng Bank was unchanged.
In Korea, the market ended a run of four straight gains by dropping back
as investors locked in profits, while exporters suffered from weakness in the
local currency against the U.S. dollar. Electronics heavyweight Samsung
Electronics fell as did chip maker Hynix, while car makers Hyundai Motors and
Kia Motors ended lower. Elsewhere, banking stocks retreated following their
recent outperformance, with Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank both falling.
On a more positive note, Taiwan's market surged ahead following the rally
on Wall Street as strength in the local currency and the successful UMC
overseas bond sale this week buoyed investor sentiment. Chipmaker UMC rose
sharply following strong demand for its bond sale and the announcement of its
plan to buy back some shares. Other stocks in focus were TSMC, which closed up
and Chinatrust Financial Holdings, which also ended the session higher.
Finally, the Australian market closed down on profit taking in a week
which saw the key index close at all time highs on three out of five days.
Large cap stocks suffered most of the selling pressures with resources majors
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both falling after a week of solid gains, while in
the banking sector, Macquarie Bank dropped back from its record high posted
earlier in the week, with ANZ Bank and CBA also closing down.
Ian.Littlewood@thomson.com; Thomson Financial
This is Thomson Financial Corporate Services Asia Market Commentary. The
information herein is believed to be true and accurate. If you have any
questions please e-mail James Sang at James.Sang@tfn.com. We take no
responsibility for inaccurate information and reserve the right to update our
reports. For more information about Thomson Financial visit us on-line at
http://www.thomsonfinancial.com.
SOURCE Thomson Financial
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