Regional market opened higher today, as investors took a positive lead from offshore after markets in the United States and around Europe climbed overnight following a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen that reassured investors that US monetary policy will remain supportive.
The Fed has a continuing commitment to support the recovery even as policy makers now see the economy reaching full employment by late 2016, Yellen told the Economic Club of New York yesterday. Investors should pay attention to shortfalls in both inflation and the jobless rate for signals on the Federal Open Market Committee's decisions on the policy rate, she said.
But move on the upside were limited on doubt over stimulus measures in China after Premier Li Keqiang said China isn't considering strong stimulus and reiterated that economic growth a bit higher or lower than 7.5% is a reasonable range. China will keep its prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy unchanged, Li said at a State Council meeting yesterday.
Among regional bourses, Australian share market advanced for third day in row, on the back of broad based buying spree with shares in retailer, consumer goods, tech, realty, and financial companies led rally. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 and the broader All Ordinaries each rose by 0.6% from prior day to finish at 5454.20 and 5444.80, respectively. The ASX 200 added 1.8% over the short trading week.
Trading volumes were light with total of 1.41 billion shares changed hands worth of A$3.69 billion ahead of the Easter holiday. The market will re-open on Tuesday for a three day week with the Anzac Day holiday falling next Friday.
Shares in retailers and consumer goods companies climbed the most in ASX, with supermarket giant Woolworths led rally with a gain of 2.1% to A$37.09 after broker UBS upgrade for the stock from a neutral to a buy in response to an improved earnings outlook for the retail group's stores that also include Big W and Masters. Main rival Wesfarmers, owner of Coles, K-Mart, Target and Bunnings, rose 0.6% to A$42.98.
Materials and resources stocks were mixed following softer commodity prices overnight and a mixed bag of quarterly reports. Resources giant BHP Billiton was up 0.4% to A$38.10, while Rio Tinto was unchanged at A$63.37 as the spot price for iron ore, landed in China, dipped 0.8% to $US116.20 a tonne. The two biggest miners delivered quarterly production report this week that met expectations. Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group dropped 1.1% to A$5.33 after its production figures missed market expectations.
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Santos was down 0.2% to A$13.42 after the company estimates for first-quarter sales and production fell short of market expectation. Both UBS and Credit Suisse said the numbers fell short of their expectations, with Credit Suisse analyst Mark Samter putting the gap at 9% for first-quarter output. Sales in the March quarter rose to A$913 million, up from A$713 million a year earlier, on production that edged up 1% to 12.2 million boe, from 12.1 million, the Adelaide-based oil and gas producer said in its quarterly report. It maintained its guidance for full-year production at 52 million to 57 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Woodside Petroleum shares added 1% to A$40 after reporting a 16% gain in March quarter revenues thanks to the re-start of production at an oil venture in Western Australia.
Shares in wealth manager Challenger Financial climbed up another 4.2% to A$6.72 on the top of yesterday's 4.8% gain after the company reported assets under management increased 1% over the March quarter to A$49.5 billion, up 21% year-on-year. Challenger also announced plan to launch a new business, Whitehelm Capital, with A$4 billion under management in partnership with United Kingdom funds manager Access Capital Advisers.
In New Zealand, equities on the New Zealand stock market rose, after shares in the partially privatised Genesis Energy soared as much as 18% in its debut listing on the NZX, buoying other listed energy companies in the process. Meridian Energy, MightyRiverPower, Contact Energy and TrustPower paced gains.
The NZX 50 Index rose 12.799 points, or about 0.3%, to 5103.348. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 17 fell and 11 were unchanged.
Genesis climbed 17% to NZ$1.81 from its listing price of NZ$1.55, giving holders of the 49% that was sold an immediate gain of about NZ$135 million. Over $143 million worth of shares traded hands in the IPO process, which attracted 68,000 retail investors, giving Genesis the third largest share register on the NZX in a largely scaled offer. The float raised NZ$733 million, bringing proceeds from the government's partial privatisation programme to NZ$4.7 billion.
In Japan, Japanese share market finished virtually flat after zigzagging in and out of the boundary line amid lingering concerns about the impact of this month's sales tax rise in Japan. The benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 0.15 point to finish at 14417.53, while the Topix index of all first-section shares edged up 0.04 point to 1166.59.
Tokyo market spent much of the day in the red, as Profit taking set in following a sharp rise in Tokyo the day before and as comments from the country's central bank governor left investors unimpressed. Risk sentiment in local shares also muted as the yen moved higher against the US dollar. In Tokyo afternoon trade, the greenback slipped to 102.02 yen from 102.25 yen in New York on Wednesday. A stronger yen is bad for shares of Japanese exporters as it dents their profitability.
Shares of utilities companies jumped, as forecasts of tight energy supply and demand from major power plant operators during the summer months. Kansai Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power rose 3.1% and 2.5%, respectively, amid speculation that some of the nation's nuclear reactors will be put back into service.
Exporters were mixed as of profit booking after sharp gain recently, with Retailing and Bridgestone lost 1.5% and 1.0% respectively, after both rose strongly in the prior session. Honda Motor also lost 2.1%.
Japan's cabinet office said that the consumer confidence index (seasonally adjusted series) in March 2013 was 37.5, down 1.0 points from the previous month. The categories of the consumer perception indices (seasonally adjusted series), which are comprised of the consumer confidence index in March are as follows; overall livelihood: 35.0 (down 1.0 from previous month), income growth: 38.2 (down 0.1 from previous month), employment: 45.9 (down 0.9 from previous month), willingness to buy durable goods: 30.8 (down 2.0 from previous month).
In China, Mainland China share market declined in quiet and narrow trade, with drop in shares of financials, developers and resources companies overshadowing an advance by technology companies. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both A and B shares, closed 6.24 points down at 2098.88, after hitting an intraday high of 2110.72 and low of 2095.71.
Among SSE sectors, 9/10 sectors of the SSE index declined, with energy and utilities sectors both were top loser in the SSE sectoral peers, with each down by 0.7%. Meanwhile, other notable decliners included industrials, materials, financials and healthcare with a drop in the range of 0.3-0.5%.
Shares in energy producers and utilities dropped heavily in Mainland market today. Offshore Oil Engineering lost 0.9%. SDIC Power retreated for the third day this week.
Property developers' shares declined after Li said at a State Council meeting yesterday that China will keep its prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy unchanged. Poly Real Estate slid 1.5% to 7.73 yuan. China Vanke Co. lost 1.5% to 7.75 yuan.
Shares of technology companies advanced on bargain hunting. Shenzhen O-film Tech Co. rose 3.8% to 47 yuan, paring its loss this year to 2.3%. Goertek gained 4.1% to 29.25 yuan.
In Hong Kong, shares in the city's market advanced for second consecutive day on tracking rally on Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Hang Seng index rose by 0.28% to 22760.24, Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lifted up 0.44% to 10080.23. The local stock market closes from Friday through Monday. It resumes trading on Tuesday.
Among the HK 50 blue chips, 30 rose and 17 fell, with remaining three stocks closed steady. Sino Land Co advanced 2.2% to HK$11.96, contributing 2-points gains to the benchmark Index and becoming the best-performing blue chip.
Some Chinese banks were higher after the State Council, the country's highest decision making body, said it was cutting reserve requirement ratios for county-level rural banks that meet certain standards, which heightened expectations that larger banks could have their ratio reduced too--a move that would give banks more money to lend. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.4% in Hong Kong and China Construction Bank was 0.9% higher.
CITIC Pacific declined 3.1% to HK$13.86, contributing 2-points losses to the benchmark Index and becoming the worst-performing blue chip after agreeing to buy the Chinese banking and brokerage assets. It will pay 49.9 billion yuan in cash and issue almost 16.6 billion shares at HK$13.48 each, as well as raise funds from a separate share sale.
Man Wah (01999) bounced 7% to HK$13.18 after the company issued positive profit alert. Man Wah (01999) said it expects to record a significant increase in its consolidated net profit for the twelve months ended 31 March 2014 as compared to that for the corresponding period in 2013.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on Thursday, 17 April 2014, that the composite interest rate, which is a measure of the average cost of funds of banks, increased slightly by 4 basis points to 0.41% at the end of March 2014, from 0.37% at the end of February 2014.
In Singapore, equities of the Singapore market held around their seven-month highs amid a mostly positive session for the Asian shares today. Hopes of continued strong US economic performance supported the sentiments even as clashes between pro-Russia militants and Ukrainian forces continued. The benchmark Strait Times index closed at 3253.80, up 0.60 points or 0.02% on the day. The overall movement was very thin as buyers curbed their enthusiasm after the recent string of gains.
The ST index witnessed 1798 million shares change hands with the value of trades placed at 1158 million. The winners beat losers by 216 to 199. Banks were mostly supported. DBS added 0.36% while UOB gained 0.10%. Wilmar dropped 0.30% while Olam shed 0.45%. However, CapitaLand Ltd continued soar after it offered to buy out minority shareholders in the Singapore-listed shopping mall operator. The stock gained 1.60% on the day.
In India, key benchmark indices surged after government bond prices surged after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today, 17 April 2014, fully sold the Rs 20000-crore worth of debt on offer, accomplishing the country's biggest-ever auction. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was provisionally up 349.67 points or 1.57%, up close to 315 points from the day's low and off about 20 points from the day's high.
GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals lost 0.43% after net profit fell 42.87% to Rs 96.54 crore on 8.28% decline in total income to Rs 654.73 crore in Q1 March 2014 over Q1 March 2013. The Q1 result was announced during trading hours today, 17 April 2014. GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals said that Q1 March 2014 continued to see the impact of the revamped price control order, extending coverage to the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).
CRISIL rose 1.98% after consolidated net profit surged 38.6% to Rs 68.71 crore on 21.4% growth in income from operations to Rs 308.98 crore in Q1 March 2014 over Q1 March 2013. The Q1 result was announced during trading hours today, 17 April 2014.
Hindustan Construction Company rose 5.26% after the company said it has been awarded an Rs 300 crore contract by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The announcement was made at the fag end of trading hours on Wednesday, 16 April 2014.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, New Zealand's NZX50 added 0.25%. Taiwan's Taiex index added 0.23%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index rose 0.49%. Malaysia's KLSE Composite added 0.28%. South Korea's KOSPI index was down 0.01%. Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.08%.
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