Asia Pacific share market advanced on Monday, 23 February 2015, as appetite for riskier assets grew up on tracking gains in European and U.S. stock markets after euro-zone officials agreed to extend Greece's bailout Friday.
Investor sentiment received a boost from news that Greece and eurozone finance ministers had reached an interim agreement on the indebted nation's rescue plan. Euro zone ministers late on Friday agreed to extend Greece's financial rescue package by four months, a shorter extension than the six months the country had sought. Although an initial relief over the last-minute deal boosted Wall Street shares to record highs late on Friday, Asian markets as a whole saw little follow-up buying.
After talks in Brussels between officials from the 19 euro members concluded late on Feb. 20 with an agreement to extend bailout funds for four months, the government in Athens now has until the end of Monday to complete a list of policies in return for the continued funding. Finance chiefs will then decide whether the proposals go far enough or trigger another round of emergency negotiations this week. Under the deal, Greece will still live under the EU/IMF bailout which he had pledged to scrap, and must negotiate a new programme by the early summer. The deal lifted immediate investor worries that the highly indebted country might exit the euro zone and cause ripples in financial markets worldwide.
Among Asian bourses
Nikkei racks up fresh 15-year highs
Japanese share market finished the session at fresh 15-year high, as appetite for riskier assets grew by tracking gains in European and U.S. stock markets after euro-zone officials agreed to extend Greece's bailout Friday. Meanwhile, investor sentiment also received a boost from greenback strength against the yen. The Nikkei 225 stock index ended 0.73% higher at 18466.92, a highest level since April 2000. The broader Topix added 0.17% to 1502.83, its strongest close since December 2007.
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Shares of forex-sensitive blue chips closed higher after the dollar and euro were little softer from Friday levels versus the yen, ending the stock trading session at Y119.28 and at Y135.36, respectively. Nippon Sheet Glass, which gets about 39% of its revenue from Europe, gained 0.9% to 117 yen. Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest carmaker by market value, added 0.6% to 8,130 yen. Nissan Motor Co., which gets about 16% of sales from Europe, rose 1.5% to 1,224 yen.
Casio Computer Co shares advanced 5.9% to 2010 yen due to target price upgrade from brokerage houses. Nomura Securities has upgraded its rating for the company to buy from neutral with a target price rise of 2500 yen from previous 1820 yen. The brokerage cited strong global sales of the company's "G-Shock" durable digital wristwatches and good prospects for margin improvement at the firm's system equipment segment, which includes its signage business.
Medical device maker Terumo Corp added 1.1% at 3134 yen on reports that the firm's operating profit will likely climb 7% to a record 70 billion yen in the current fiscal year, helped by the weak yen and brisk demand overseas for catheters.
Euglena, a biofuels venture, surged 13% on news of a tie-up with Chevron Lummus Global, a unit of U.S. oil major Chevron, to construct and operate a refinery for aircraft biofuel in Japan.
Yokohama Rubber added 2.1% to 1194 yen after saying it will buy back up to 3.5 million shares of its own stock, an amount equivalent to about 1.08% of shares outstanding.
Shares of auto parts maker Takata Corp. dropped 2.6% after U.S. federal regulators imposed new fines on Friday, charging that the firm has not been cooperating with a continuing probe into defective air bags. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was fining the Japanese auto-parts company $14,000 a day until the company more fully cooperates with the agency's investigation into faulty Takata airbags.
Tokyo Electric Power Co was down 0.6% to 476 yen, as it reported that a fresh leak of highly radioactive water was detected at the utility's defunct Fukushima nuclear plant, according to Agence France-Presse.
Australia stocks up for the first time in three days
The Australian share market ended higher, registering first gain in three straight sessions, as strength in the banks helped overcome an early stumble on another mixed day of earnings results. The S&P/ASX200 and the All Ordinaries both grew by 0.5% to 5908 and 5872.40, respectively. Market turnover was relatively light, with 1.63 billion shares changing hands worth of A$4.05 billion.
Shares of financial companies went up, with top four lenders being major gainers. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation's largest lender, rose 0.2% to A$90.41. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group climbed 0.7% to A$35.04. Westpac Banking Corporation advanced 0.2% to A$37.72 and National Australia Bank was up 0.5% to A$37.67.Wealth management and insurance giant AMP lifted 2.1% to A$6.77 as investors piled in to take advantage of a higher dividend announced last week and ahead of the stock trading ex-dividend next week.
Junior telco M2 Group, which owns Dodo and iPrimus, added 0.4% to A$9.46 as it recorded a 25% jump in interim net profit fuelled by strong growth in broadband sales.
Property and construction group Lend Lease rose 0.9% to A$17 as it showed a 25% increase in half-year profit boosted by strength in the residential property market.
Veterinary practice and pet supplies network Greencross jumped 8.5% to A$9.20 after lifting its interim dividend by 45.5% to A$0.08.
BlueScope Steel tumbled 8.1% to A$5.10 despite reporting a sharp jump in half-year profit. It said that weaker global steel prices would eat into its margins later this year.
Brambles slipped 0.2% to A$10.70 after chief executive Tom Gorman told shareholders the logistics company is on track to meet its full-year targets.
Hang Seng rises in post-holiday return
Hong Kong share market closed marginally in post-holiday session, with gains in Tencent Holdings offsetting weakness in casino operators and oil firms. The benchmark index opened 84 points higher following the rally of the Wall Street on Friday, but it quickly headed south and dropped 167 points at one stage. The Hang Seng Index ended up 4.68 points or 0.02% to 24836.76, off an intra-day high of 24916.24 and day low of 2466468, marking its sixth straight session of gains. Turnover was HK$49.4 billion compared to half-day turnover of HK$28.9 billion on Wednesday when trading time was shortened. The local stock market closed on last Thursday and Friday for Chinese New Year holidays.
Casino operators were mostly lower after research houses are bearish on the gross gaming revenue outlook for Macau gaming industry in February. Galaxy Ent (00027) slipped 3.2% to HK$42.05. Sands China (01928) declined 2% to HK$38.95. Wynn Macau (01128) plunged 4.8% to HK$22.8.
Oil majors fell across the board despite news of consolidation. Citi Research issued a report saying that it sees little merit in the talked mergers. CNOOC (00883) slipped 3% to HK$11.06. Both PetroChina (00857) and Sinopec (00386) dipped 1% to HK$8.89 and HK$6.45.
China Mobile (00941) softened 2% to HK$104.8 as its January net adds declined 11%. China Telecom (00728) and China Unicom (00762) were unchanged at HK$4.98 and HK$13.14.
Italian fashsion firm Prada SpA shares rose 3.9% to HK$44.25, shrugging off a slight 1% drop of its sales in 2014 compared with the previous year.
Tencent was up 3.8% to HK$134.8 after some observers viewed it as winner from the "electronic red packets" race with Alibaba.
Sensex, Nifty hit lowest level in more than a week
A sudden slide pushed key benchmark indices into the red from green in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:16 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 168.22 points or 0.58% at 29,063.19. The CNX Nifty was down 57.55 points or 0.65% at 8,776.05.
Indian index heavyweight Reliance Industries edged lower. Most realty stocks declined. Lupin dropped after the company said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has raised concerns over production processes at the company's Pithampur plant in Madhya Pradesh.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) soldIndian shares worth a net Rs 89.41 crore during the previous trading session on Friday, 20 February 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 204.85 crore on Friday, 20 February 2015, as per provisional data.
Indian market may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month February 2015 series to March 2015 series. The near month February 2015 derivatives contracts expire on Thursday, 26 February 2015.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region: South Korea KOSPI rose 0.35% to 1968.39. New Zealand market grew 0.1% to 5754.36. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index added 0.06% to 5403.28. Singapore's Straits Times index jumped 0.08% at 3438.41. Malaysia's KLCI was up 0.08% to 1809.39. Exchanges in China and Taiwan were closed for holidays.
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