The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6% to 140.55. The gauge is poised for a 1.4% gain this week, the biggest weekly rally since the period ended Nov. 15.
Investors' appetite for cyclical assets bolstered amid cementing confidence over better outlook for the US economy after jobs figures released by the US Labor Department revealed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits, or jobless claims, fell by a larger-than-expected 42,000 to 338,000 last week - the lowest level in a month. The improved economic pulse of recent times from the world's biggest economy has given the markets confidence that it will be able to accommodate the Feds imminent tapering of Q.E.
Meanwhile, sentiments were also propelled on easing concerns about the liquidity crunch and health of China's financial system after weeklong spike in interbank lending rates settled today. China's benchmark repo rate was set for the biggest weekly slump since 2011, easing concern that a cash crunch will trigger corporate defaults.
Also, buying appetite bolstered on calming fears of a sharp slowdown in the world's second-largest economy after the Chinese Cabinet said this year's economic growth would be 7.6%. The forecasted rate is just above the government's target of 7.5% and slightly below last year's 7.7%.
Among Asian bourses, Japan's share market finished the session tad higher after recouping intraday losses. The benchmark Nikkei Stocks Average grew 4.50 points to 16178.94, the best finish since December 2007.
Tokyo market commenced trading firmly higher today, as investors followed the lead of buoyant Wall Street traders encouraged by recent numbers indicating the U.S. economy is picking up. But the market failed to hold early gains, diving into red terrain and spent most of time below the neutral line due to profit taking as investors largely discounted a mixed bag of Japanese economic data. However, the market managed to close into positive territory before finishing the session on gaining support from a strong dollar, which briefly shot above the 105 yen mark, its highest since October 2008.
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Takeda Pharmaceutical Co dropped 5.2% to 4835 yen after announcing that it would stop producing fasiglifam, a diabetes drug, due to concerns about patients' liver safety.
Telecommunications provider SoftBank Corp. rose 1.7%, extending previous gains linked to reports that the company is preparing to turn to the U.S. bond market to raise more than 2 trillion yen to acquire U.S. mobile carrier T-Mobile US.
In economic news- the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released Japan's consumer price index on Friday, showing Japan's core consumer price index (excluding perishables but including energy) rose 1.2% on year in November, the sixth straight y/y rise after +0.9% in October and marking the highest gain in five years since +1.9% in October 2008, when energy costs briefly boosted CPI. Meanwhile, central Tokyo core CPI rose 0.7% in December. It was the eighth straight y/y rise after +0.6% in October, led by the same factors seen in the previous month - higher electricity bills, casualty insurance premiums and overseas travelling costs.
Japan's household spending data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released on Friday showing Japan's average household spending rose a real 0.2% on year in November, marking the third consecutive y/y rise, but the pace of increase decelerated from +0.9% in October and +3.7% in September.
Separately, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday that Japan's seasonally adjusted average unemployment rate stood at 4.0% in November, unchanged from October and stayed at the lowest level since 3.8% in July. The longer-term improvement in the labor market remains intact. The pace of job creation from a year earlier accelerated to +740,000 from +450,000 in October, marking the 11th consecutive year-over-year increase. The number of unemployed fell 110,000 y/y in November, marking the 42nd straight monthly drop. Looking at the near-term change, the number of payroll jobs rose by 230,000 (+0.4%) from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 63.50 million in November, marking the third consecutive rise after rising 80,000 in October. The adjusted number of unemployed fell by 1.9% to 2.61 million, the first drop in two months after rising 1.1% in October.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released preliminary industrial production data on Friday, showing Japan's industrial production rose only 0.1% on the month in November, marking the third straight rise on output of passenger cars and personal computers after +1.0% in October. The November figure was below the METI's forecast of +0.9%, due mainly to weaker-than-expected output of general and production machinery (-2.9% m/m vs. METI's forecast for +5.3%) as well as iron/steel (+2.8% vs. +6.8% projected). The November output index (99.4) was the highest since April 2012, when it was at 100.6.
In Australia, Australian share market finished slight lower, as early gains by retailers and banks faded during a subdued holiday season trading session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 3.10 points to finish at 5324.10.
Australian market reopened with firm footing today after remainingshut on Wednesday and Thursday for the Christmas and Boxing Day holidays. The sentiments buoyed by a positive lead from Wall Street overnight and Australian Retailers Association reports of healthy spending in the first day of Boxing Day sales. But early gains faded on profit taking.
Australian precious metal miners finished sharp higher on the back of rebound in bullion prices overnight. Gold prices rose on Thursday as recent price weakness prompted physical demand, especially out of Asia. The Comex gold futures price rose by US$9 or 0.7% to US$1,212.30 per ounce. Newcrest Mining advanced 2.2% to A$7.78, Kingsgate Consolidated 0.54% to A$0.94 and St. Barbara 3.92% to A$0.27.
Shares of retailers and consumer goods producers closed weaker after erasing early gains. Retailer shares reopened with strong note after a two day Christmas break, on the back of reports of healthy spending in the first day of Boxing Day sales. The Australian Retailers Association said more than A$2 billion was spent by consumers on Boxing Day, and it forecasts spending in the coming weeks will be greater than in the same holiday period a year ago. But those gains waned as the session continued. Myer shares closed 0.4% up at A$2.74 and David Jones 0.7% to A$3.01. But Harvey Norman dropped 0.3% to A$3.14 and JB Hi-Fi 0.6% to A$21.25. Woolworths added one cent to A$33.71 and Coles owner Wesfarmers gained 25 cents to A$44.04.
In China, headline indices of the China's financial market skyrocketed today, as investors chased for bargain buying across the board, led by financial, solar energy and technology stocks, on easing concerns about the liquidity crunch and health of China's financial system after weeklong spike in interbank lending rates settled today. The Shanghai Composite advanced 28.15 points to finish at 2101.25, while the CSI 300 Index rose 38.15 points to close at 2303.48.
Shares of technology sector were top gainers in Shanghai index, led by Sanan Optoelectronics, rising 4.3% to 25.49 yuan, adding to this year's rally of 86%. The technology measure has surged 39% this year on increased spending from the government, which is seeking new drivers for the economy.
Shares of Chinese financials ended higher. Investors digested news that Beijing announced rules allowing commercial banks to use wealth management funds to buy preferred shares on domestic bourses. Industrial Bank advanced 2.7% to 9.93 yuan. Huaxia Bank Co. surged 3.5% to 8.20 yuan. Ping An, the second-biggest insurer, gained 3.2% to 40.84 yuan.
Mainland China property developers rose despite news that legislation for property taxes may be sped up, according to Finance Minister Lou Jiwei. Vanke, the largest developer, rose 3% to 8.03 yuan in Shenzhen. Gemdale, Poly Real Estate and China Merchants all added over 2% each.
Shares of solar energy companies rose after report stating China's government solar energy plans indicate as much as 12 gigawatts of new capacity in 2014, and the Finance Ministry issued in November a policy encouraging solar power distribution Hareon Solar surged 7.7% to 7.72 yuan. LDK Solar Co. (LDK), the second-biggest maker of solar wafers, advanced 2.2% to in New York yesterday, while Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. rose the most in a week.
In economic news bites, China's industrial company profit growth slowed in November, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. The NBS said total profits of China's industrial firms rose 9.7% y/y in November to 707.48 billion yuan, compared with +15.1% y/y in October. For the first 11 months of 2013, industrial profit raised 13.2% y/y to 5.33 trillion yuan, compared with a growth of 13.7% in the previous ten months.
The People's Bank of China has set the daily reference rate at new record 6.1050 against the greenback on Friday, strengthened by 106 basis points from prior day parity of 6.1156, according to the data released by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The yuan is allowed to trade at 1% on each side of the central parity rate. Before Friday, the yuan's highest exchange rate against the U.S. dollar was set on Dec. 11, when the yuan stood at 6.11 against per U.S. dollar.
In Hong Kong, shares in the HK market closed moderately higher in light volume, as investors' sentiments buoyed by strong gains on the Wall Street overnight and as sharp rally on the mainland China bourses today. The benchmark Hang Seng Index was provisionally ending 63.69 points higher at 23243.24, while Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 4.33 point to 10830.10.
Among the HK 50 blue chips, 26 rose and 18 fell, with 6 stocks remaining steady. Tencent (00700) put on 3% to HK$483.2 while Hang Lung Properties (00101) slid 1.8% to HK$24, making both stocks the top blue-chip gainer and loser respectively.
Market heavyweights were higher. China Mobile (00941) edged up 0.06% to HK$81, while HSBC Holdings (00005) rose 0.5% to HK$83.9. Elsewhere, CIMC (02039) surged 15.2% to HK$16.5 on its proposed H-share placing.
Steelmakers were up after the China Securities Journal reported that Mainland Government will focus on optimizing industries next year, with iron and steel as one of the major targets. Angang Steel (00347) gained 4.7% to HK$5.83 and Maanshan Iron (00323) put on 2.9% to HK$2.1.
In India, key benchmark indices of the Indian market trimmed gains after hitting fresh intraday high in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex was up 130.91 points or 0.62%, off close to 30 points from the day's high and up about 90 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign funds remained net buyers of Indian stocks on Thursday, 26 December 2013.
Realty stocks extended their recent gains triggered by ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and HDFC cutting interest rates on home loans last week. The reduction in home loan rates by these three major lenders could lead to a revival of interest in the real estate sector, which has been hit by high prices amid a sluggish economy. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance. DLF (up 1.5%), Unitech (up 0.64%), Godrej Properties (up 0.06%) and Parsvnath Developers (up 0.38%) gained. Sobha Developers fell 0.06%.
IT stocks rose after the latest data showed US jobless claims fell last week. US is the biggest outsourcing market for the Indian IT firms. Tech Mahindra (up 1.73%), and Wipro (up 1.31%) gained.
Shares of Polaris Financial Technology surged after the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) quashed and set aside a Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) order that barred Polaris Financial Technology chairman Arun Jain from market activities on charges of insider trading. The stock was up 3.96%. Jain filed an appeal before the appellate body. A 23 December SAT order said, "In view of peculiar facts of present case, without going into the merits of the case and without giving any reasons, impugned order dated October 9, 2012 may be set aside." It may be recalled that Sebi had in October 2012 barred Jain from market activities on charges of insider trading for a period of two years. The incident dates back to 2000.
Elsewhere in the region, South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.15%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index added 0.24%. Taiwan's Taiex index rose 0.58%. New Zealand's NZX50 index edged 0.01% down. Singapore's Straits Times index added 0.49%. Malaysia's KLSE Composite rose 0.92%.
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