Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart said that "there is sufficient momentum evidenced by the economic data to justify a further step at one of the coming meetings, possibly as early as the meeting scheduled for end of April".
San Francisco Fed president John Williams said that "all else equal, assuming everything else is basically the same and the data flow continues the way I hope and expect, then April or June would definitely be potential times to have an increase in interest rates."
Among Asian bourses
Australia Market closes flat
Australian share market closed marginally higher in tepid volume, as investors took breather in the absence of a strong lead from Wall Street overnight and ahead of the Easter long weekend. At close of trade the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3%, or 16.5 points, to 5166.6. The broader All Ordinaries fell 0.2%, or 8.5 points, to 5230.80.
Banks and financials closed down after data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday provided further evidence of cooling house price growth. Sydney property prices dropped 1.6 per cent over the last quarter of 2015ANZ Banking Group fell 1.7% to A$25.44, National Australia Bank lost 1.5% to A$27.77, Commonwealth Bank of Australia dropped 0.3% to A$76.91 and Westpac Banking Corp fell 0.3% to A$32.43.
Internet provide TPG Telecom surged 7.15% to A$11.09 after its interim net profit nearly doubled, thanks to its A$1.56 billion takeover of rival iiNet. TPG Telecom's interim net profit jumped 90 per cent to A$202.5 million. TPG said it would increase its interim dividend to 7c, fully franked and payable on May 24, from the year-earlier 5.5c payout.
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Tabcorp Holdings' shares fell 2.7% to A$3.99 in the wake of the resignation of ASX chief executive and former Tabcorp boss Elmer Funke Kupper following an Australian Federal Police investigation into an alleged A$200,000 payment to the family of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2009 during business dealings.
Nikkei surges 1.94%
Japan share market finished the session higher for the first time in five consecutive sessions, as investors chased for value buying across the board on the back of yen descent against the dollar and stabilizing oil prices. All TSE sectoral indices advanced, exception being mining issues, with miscellaneous product, precision instrument, and pharmaceutical-linked issues comprising notable advancers. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 323.74 points, or 1.94%, from Friday at 17,048.55. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 24.88 points, or 1.85%, higher at 1,369.93. The Tokyo stock market was closed on Monday for a national holiday.
The weaker yen boosted up export-oriented names with Toyota adding 3.57%, Nissan up 1.98% and Honda adding 1.24%. A weaker yen is usually a positive for exporters as it improves their overseas profit numbers when converted to local currency. Nintendo Co. soared 8.2% after its first smartphone game was downloaded more than a million times since being released last week.
China Market falls 0.64%
Mainland China stock market closed down, due to profit booking after the benchmark index closed above psychologically key 3,000 level yesterday for the first time in two months as Chinese authorities eased controls on margin lending. The profit booking selloff triggered after the People's Bank of China attempted to clarify recent comments by its chief, Zhou Xiaochuan. Though Mr. Zhou had pledged to accelerate the development of China's capital market, he wasn't necessarily encouraging funds to rush into the market. Most of the SSE sectoral indices declined with financial shares, materials and health-care companies being major losers. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 19.44 points, or 0.64%, to 2999.36, while the Shenzhen Composite Index de-grew 5.59 points, or 0.3%, to 1880.78. The CSI 300 Index, measuring exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, dropped 23.65 points, or 0.73%, to 3225.79.
Shares of f financial, materials and health-care companies suffered steepest declines among 10 industry groups. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. fell 2%. Jiangxi Copper Co. slid 1.8%. Guotai Junan Securities dropped 3.7%, while Citic Securities Co., the nation's biggest brokerage, declined 3.5%.
Hong Kong Stocks closed down
The Hong Kong stock market closed tad below the neutral line after erasing initial gain. City markets, which were up Monday after Chinese authorities signaled the loosening of controls over margin lending, retreated, with financial and utilitis players being major losers. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 17.40 points, or 0.08%, to 20666.75 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, benchmark measure of performance of mainland China enterprises, declined 28.46 points, or 0.32%, to 8900.19 points. Turnover shrank significantly to HK$65.4 billion from HK$80 billion on Monday.
Henderson Land (00012) retreated 4% to HK$46.45 after it reported 2015 earnings growth of 27% to HK$21.33 billion. HSBC Global Research cut its target price for Henderson Land (HLD)(00012) to HK$63 from HK$67 on revised NAV, and maintained its "buy" rating. The research house said HLD's sellable resources in 2016 consists of 2,144 units, which is some 30% lower than 2015 on the surface. The sellable GFA of 1.46mn sqft is only down 20% y-y.
Tingyi (00322) dipped 3.2% to HK$7.34 after announcement its 2015 earnings slid 36% to US$256 million. The revenue was US$9,103 million, a decrease of 11.09% from a year earlier.
Kunlun Energy (00135) soared 5.6% to HK$6.59 on rising oil prices. BNP Paribas upgraded its rating for the stock to "buy" in its latest research report. CNOOC (00883) edged up 0.8% to HK$9.04.
Nifty gains for the 5th day in a row
Amid a divergent trend among various index constituents, key benchmark indices eked out small gains. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 45.12 points or 0.18% to settle at 25,330.49. The 50-unit Nifty 50 index rose 10.65 points or 0.14% to settle at 7,714.90.
Most auto stocks rose on hopes of a policy rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India at its monetary policy meeting early next month. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) edged higher after the company announced that its Mahindra Agri Business forayed into dairy business with the launch of its branded dairy products under the brand Saboro. Maruti Suzuki India eked out small gains after the company announced that it would start deliveries of its newly launched compact SUV Vitara Brezza to customers from 25 March 2016.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region: New Zealand's NZX50 added 0.3% to 6664.25. Taiwan's Taiex index slipped 0.3% to 8785.68. South Korea's KOPSI rose 0.4% to 1996.81. Malaysia's KLCI added 0.4% to 1724.75. Singapore's Straits Times index closed virtually flat at 2880.65. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index declined 0.6% to 4856.11.
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