The rise in the Asian market came on tracking lead from New York overnight. The US Dow Jones Index closed in positive territory overnight after Republicans and Democrats in Congress showed early signs of a possible break in the impasse, and US President Barack Obama invited both sides for talks about ending the government shutdown, now in its ninth day.
President Barack Obama is making plans to talk with Republican lawmakers at the White House in the coming days as pressure builds on both sides to resolve their deadlock over the federal debt limit and the partial government shutdown before the US Treasury's borrowing authority is exhausted next week.
Buying momentum gained further support after President Obama nominated current US Federal Reserve Vice-Chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as Fed Chief when his term ends in January 2014. Yellen is seen as dovish, and likely to continue with Bernanke's current stimulus program, rather than suddenly halt which is seen as a positive sign for investor sentiment.
The Federal Reserve is buying $85 billion of bonds a month to hold down long-term interest rates and bolster the economy. The central bank's stimulus has been a crucial support for a stock market rally that began more than four years ago.
Investors also got more insight into the Fed's thinking yesterday after the central bank published minutes from its September meeting yesterday. Nearly every member of the Federal Reserve thought the central bank should see more economic data before slowing its bond purchases.
Among Asia bourses, Tokyo market advanced for third straight day on Thursday, 10 October 2013, with major exporters leading the way after the yen softened against major counterpart. The Nikkei Stock Average advanced 1.12% while the broader Topix index rose 0.95%.
Japanese yen depreciated against the greenback on news U.S. President Barack Obama had nominated the dovish Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve. The greenback last changed hands at 97.71 yen, compared with 97.35 yen late Wednesday in New York.
Shares of large-cap exporters rallied in Tokyo on the back of yen depreciation against the US dollar that makes exporter products cheaper competitive with overseas rivals. The greenback last changed hands at 97.71 yen, compared with 97.35 yen late Wednesday in New York.
Among Japanese exporters, Honda Motor gained 2.5% to 3,885 yen and TDK rose 4.1% to 3,935 yen. Nissan Motor Co jumped 2.6% to 996 yen despite news that a New York state judge has blocked New York City's plan to replace its yellow cabs with a Nissan-produced fleet. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. shares rose 1.9% to 6350 yen in spite the auto maker cuts price of its Prius Hybrid plug-in models in an effort to encourage sales in the U.S.
Shares of drug makers were also higher in Tokyo, with Takeda Pharmaceutical leading rally, up 3.3% to 4,695 yen after a Deutsche Bank initiation at Buy with a 5,600 yen price target, citing a resurgent drug pipeline that includes treatments for diabetes, cancer, depression, and ulcerative colitis. Astellas shares added 4.1% to 4,970 yen and Shionogi & Co. gained 3.8% to 2,066 yen.
Rakuten lost 2.6% to 1,153 yen after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to Neutral on the potential earnings impact from Yahoo Japan's elimination of monthly tenant fees and royalties on sales announced earlier this week.
Japan's seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index, excluding one-person households, advanced to 45.4 in September from 43 in August, figures released by the Cabinet Office revealed. Consumer confidence improved significantly in September, data from a survey showed Thursday. Japanese households were slightly more upbeat in September about their income growth than they were in the previous month. The corresponding sub-index moved up to 40.6 from 40.2. Similarly, the measure confidence in overall livelihood rose to 42.4 from 40.7 in August. Employees turned more optimists about the employment conditions, with the relevant indicator rising to 51.7 from 46.9 a month earlier. Households' willingness to buy durable goods also turned more positive. The sub-index gained 2.7 points to reach 47 in September.
Japanese core machinery orders rose 5.4% in August from the previous month, the government said Thursday, on a recovery in capital spending by businesses and increased demand ahead of a planned sales-tax hike. That came after a 0.03% decline in July, and was the first rise in three months.
In Australia, Australian stocks failed to join the regional gains, with the market weighed by declines in mining stocks, which fell on the back of overnight falls in commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 5.90 points from prior day to finish at 5147.10.
Shares of precious-metal miners were biggest drag on the Sydney market in response to pullback in bullion prices. The Comex December futures price was down by $17.40 an ounce or 1.3% to $1,307.20 per ounce on Wednesday. Newcrest Mining declined 2.7% to A$10.64, Perseus Mining dropped 4% to A$0.48 and Kingsgate Lost 3.2% to A$1.525.
Bank of Queensland shares surged 6.7% to A$11.15 after announcing that it had returned to a A$185.8 million profit for the 2013 financial year compared with a A$17.1 million loss in the year before.
The Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage points to 5.6% in September, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today. The trend unemployment rate remained at 5.7%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of people unemployed decreased by 14,700 people to 697,100 in September, the ABS reported. The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 9,100 to 11,645,800 in September. The increase in employment was due to increased full-time employment, up 5,000 to 8,133,700 and part-time employment, up 4,100 people to 3,512,100. The increase in total employment was driven by an increase in male full-time employment and an increase in female part-time employment. The ABS monthly seasonally adjusted aggregate hours worked series showed a decrease in September, down 6.4 million hours to 1,641.5 million hours. The ABS reported a seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate decrease of 0.1 percentage points to 64.9% in September.
In China, Chinese market dipped ahead of economic data scheduled to be released over the coming days, with financials, energy, telecom and industrial heavyweight companies leading fall. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.94% to 2190.93, while the CSI 300 Index lost 0.99% to 2429.32.
Trade and inflation data out over the weekend and early next week will provide investors a chance to see whether the economic recovery seen in recent months has carried on to September.
Shares of financial companies drop the most among SSE sectoral pack, with brokerage houses led declines after Bank of America Corp. said brokerages will suffer from government efforts to encourage banks to offer asset-management products. Citic Securities slid 3.8% to 12.05 yuan. Haitong Securities lost 5.4% to 11.98 yuan. Industrial Bank Co. fell 3.2% to 11.21 yuan. China Minsheng Banking Corp. lost 2.6% to 9.50 yuan.
Shares of shipping companies dropped amid pullback in shipping freight rate. The Baltic Dry Index (BDIY), a benchmark of commodity shipping rates, slumped for the first time in six days on Wednesday, losing 1%. Cosco Shipping fell 3.4% to 3.65 yuan. China Cosco Holdings Co declined 2.5% to 3.49 yuan.
In Hong Kong, Stocks in Hong Kong closed lower after swung between small gains and losses, on tracking fall in the mainland market. the benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 82.67 points, or 0.36%, to 22951.30. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped 45.33 points, or 0.43%, to 10460.18.
Among the 50 HK blue chips, 13 rose and 35 fell, with 2 stocks remaining steady. China Merchants gained 1.9% to HK$29.75, while Belle slipped 2.6% to HK$11.42, making themselves the top blue-chip winner and loser.
Market heavyweight shares were mixed. China Mobile inched down 0.2% to HK$84. HSBC was down 0.2% to HK$83.45. Elsewhere, Bonjour (00653) and Sa Sa (00178) plunged 8.4% and 5.9% to HK$1.63 and HK$8.2, respectively, after the retailers reported weaker-than-expected sales growth over the Golden Week holidays.
In India, Indian benchmark indices eked out small gains after witnessing intraday volatility. Indian stocks rose taking their cues from a rally in European stocks and a surge in US index futures which indicated a firm opening of Wall Street later in the global day. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was provisionally up 55.65 points or 0.27%, up 169 points from the day's low and off 18.86 points from the day's high.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 16 stocks gained and rest of them declined. Sesa Goa (up 1.57%), NTPC (up 1.55%) and Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.95%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Tata Motors jumped 5.56% to Rs 373.75 after hitting a record high of Rs 373.80 in intraday trade. The company early this week announced the launch of the new Tata Nano CNG emax. The Tata Nano CNG emax is powered by a fuel efficient, state-of-the-art engine, with CNG and Petrol bi-fuel system options. The car has the lowest carbon footprint of 75.6 g/km and is the most fuel efficient car in India with a mileage of 36 km/kg, Tata Motors said in a statement on 8 October 2013. The Tata Nano CNG emax will now be available across CNG markets like Delhi, Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra and Lucknow. The Tata Nano CNG emax price range starts at Rs 2.45 lakhs, ex-showroom Ahmedabad for the Nano CX and goes up to Rs. 2.72 lakhs ex-showroom Ahmedabad for the Nano LX.
Ashok Leyland gained 4.43% to Rs 16.50 on huge volume of 2.85 crore shares after a large bulk deal of 2.6 crore shares was executed on the counter at Rs 15.90 per share at 09:26 IST on BSE today, 10 October 2013.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals gained 2.88%. Glenmark Generics Inc., USA, a subsidiary of Glenmark Generics, today, 10 October 2013, announced that it has filed a lawsuit in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware against Astellas Pharma Europe B.V., Astellas International, Triax Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Precision Dermatology, Inc., Onset Dermatologics, LLC, and Metacon Labs. The lawsuit seeks to enforce Glenmark's exclusive royalty-bearing license agreement with Triax Pharmaceuticals, Astellas Pharma Europe BV and Astellas Pharma International BV. Under that agreement, Glenmark is entitled to 180 days of exclusivity with respect to its Hydrocortisone Butyrate Cream, as it is the first generic company to file an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for the product.
Elsewhere in the region, New Zealand's NZX 50 Index rose 0.14%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index gained 0.66%. South Korea's KOSPI shed 0.07%. Malaysia's KLSE Composite added 0.38%. Singapore's Straits Times index was up 0.48%. Taiwan's Taiex index was closed for holiday.
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