Tuesday 4 October, 10:00 AM BST (Thomson Financial): Asian markets ended
mostly higher as strength in electronics stocks on Wall Street lifted their
counterparts in Asia. Japan's market rose strongly as weakness in the local
currency helped exporters lift the market, while Hong Kong's market edged
lower on interest rate fears. Meanwhile, the Korean bourse gained on strength
in electronics stocks, while chipmakers drove Taiwan's market higher. Finally,
the market in Australia was flat as the market lacked direction.
Tokyo's Nikkei-225 Index jumped 213.56 points or 1.58% to 13,738.84, while
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Stock Index slipped 12.18 points or 0.08% to 15,382.21.
Korea's Kospi Index surged 21.77 points or 1.78% to 1242.78, while Taiwan's
Weighted Index was up 18.20 points or 0.30% to 6142.12. Australia's All
Ordinaries Index eased 1.7 points or 0.04% to 4591.50.
Japan's market closed sharply higher as weakness in the Yen against the
U.S. dollar boosted exporters, such as car makers and technology companies.
The U.S. dollar's gains followed the release of strong U.S. manufacturing data
and a weaker than expected Tankan survey, with large manufacturers estimating
that the Japanese yen / U.S. dollar exchange rate will be at 115.18 for the
rest of the fiscal year ending March 2006, according to the survey.
Car makers benefited as investors' appetite for their foreign earnings
sent Honda, Mazda and Yamaha all higher, while chip makers benefited from a
combination of yen weakness, along with the Semiconductor Industry Association
announcing that worldwide sales of semiconductors rose 1.7% year-on-year in
August, which pushed NEC, Elpida Memory and Fujitsu upwards.
The high technology machinery sector continued its strong run with Nikon
posting sterling gains, along with Kyocera and Advantest which also rose
strongly, but on a weaker note, steel makers fell back following recent gains,
with Sumitomo Metal Industries and Kobe Steel plummeting, along with Nippon
Steel and JFE Holdings which also slipped.
Meanwhile, in Kong Kong shares ended the day marginally lower after the
release of strong U.S. manufacturing data raised worries that interest rates
will rise further, because rates in Kong Kong follow those in the U.S. This
had a negative impact on property stocks, with Wharf Holdings, Henderson Land
and Cheung Kong Holdings all down, while banking stocks were mixed with BOC
Hong Kong and Bank of East Asia both rising but HSBC Holdings and Hang Seng
Bank falling back.
In Korea, the market rose strongly, led by a sharp rise in electronics
heavyweight Samsung Electronics, which gained on program buying and as it
tracked overnight gains by chip makers on Wall Street. Hana Bank rose strongly
after a leading investment bank said its private equity arm would invest
around 550 million U.S. dollars for a 9.5% stake in Hana Finacial Group.
Another stock in focus was steel maker Posco, which gained after rating agency
Standard & Poors revised the outlook on its long-term credit rating to
positive from stable.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's market ended marginally higher as strength in chip
makers was off set by weakness elsewhere, with TSMC closing up as well as UMC,
both taking their lead from overnight gains in their American Depositary
Receipts. Flat panel makers continued to underperform the market on oversupply
concerns and potential price cuts as AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics
ending lower. Elsewhere, Taiwan Business Bank, which was in the news last
month after the government was forced to abort a planned sale of the banks due
to a union boycott, ended down.
Finally, the Australian market was flat as gains in the banking sector
were offset by falls in resources stocks. National Australia Bank ended
higher, as did Commonwealth Bank and ANZ, while resources heavyweights Rio
Tinto and BHP Billiton fell back from recent highs. Elsewhere, energy stocks
fell after oil prices eased overnight, with Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search
edging lower.
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
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SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
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