Asian stock markets are mostly up in positive territory on Thursday with investors tracking cues from Wall Street where stocks ended with strong gains overnight on the back of a splendid rally in commodity prices. Though most of the markets in the region got off to a rousing start, some of them have shed a substantial portion of their gains in subsequent trades with a section of investors choosing to tread cautiously and taking some profits.
Energy, mining, industrial and financial stocks are mostly up with impressive gains in the Australian market. Consumer discretionary, property trusts and information technology stocks are also up with strong gains.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is up 63 points or 1.3 percent at 4,756.7. The broader All Ordinaries index is trading at 4,827, up 61.7 points or 1.3 percent over its previous close.
Among top miners, Rio Tinto, Newcrest Mining and Fortescue Metals are up 1.5-2 percent, while BHP Billiton is gaining nearly a percent. Oz Minerals, Lynas Corporation, Incitec Pivot and Iluka Resources are up with sharp gains.
Energy stocks Woodside Petroleum and and Oil Search are up 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. Origin Energy and Santos are up with modest gains.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac are up 0.5-1 percent. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are also trading firm.
Brambles Ltd has announced that it expects an annual operating profit of US$740 million-US$780 million, after sales in the nine months to the end of March increased five percent to US$3.27 billion. The company also announced that it has signed a multi-year contract with North American food company ConAgra Foods for pallet pooling services. The stock is up nearly 2 percent at present.
James Hardie Industries shares are down 2.2 percent after the company posted a net loss of A$326.9 million for the full year to March 31, 2011. The result represents a 309 percent drop on the company's annual net loss in 2009-2010.
Leighton Holdings Ltd has announced that its Asian subsidiary has won two major contracts worth A$547 million to construct the South Island Line (East) rail project in Hong Kong. The stock is up 0.4 percent over its previous closing price.
Fairfax Media is gaining nearly 3.5 percent. Boart Longyear, Connecteast Group, WorleyParsons, Computershare, Boral, Goodman Group, Downer EDI, Lend Lease, News Corporation and Seven West Media are also up with sharp gains.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened flat and was quoting at US$1.0626 in early trades, up slightly from Wednesday's close of US$1.0624. The Australian dollar is currently trading at 1.0669 to the U.S. dollar.
After opening notably higher on the back of some hectic buying at several counters following a strong close on Wall Street overnight and a weaker yen, the Japanese stock market retreated with investors looking to take some profits after recent gains. A sharper than expected fall in GDP too weighed on sentiment to an extent.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rose to 9,731 in early trades, was down 10.9 points or 0.1% at 9,651.2 at the end of the morning session.
Mining, steel, non-ferrous metals, insurance and glass & ceramics stocks rallied sharply in opening trades but gave up most of their gains subsequently. Shares from electric power, paper and gas sectors were trading weak, while automobile and financial stocks traded mixed.
Tokyo Tatemono, the top gainer in the Nikkei index, was up nearly 5 percent. Nippon Sheet Glass was gaining almost 4 percent. Dowa Holdings, J Front Retailing, Sumitomo Realty, Mitsubishi Materials, Inpex, Matsui Securities and Yokohama Rubber were up 2-3 percent at the break.
Pacific Metals, Fuji Heavy Industries, Tokio Marine, Heiwa Real Estate, Oki Electric, Nisshin Steel, Fast Retailing, Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Denso were also up with strong gains.
Mazda Motor, Isuzu Motors and Toyota Motor were among the notable gainers in the automobile space. Mitsubishi Motor, Nissan Motor and Suzuki Motor were trading in negative territory.
Mizuho Trust & Banking was trading firm, while Shinsei Bank, Bank of Yokohama and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial were trading weak.
Tokyo Electric Power was down as much as 5.4 percent. Minebea, Chubu Electric Power, Advantest, Kansai Electric Power, Nippon Paper, Mitsui Chemicals and Furukawa were among the other prominent losers.
On the economic front, Japan's gross domestic product was down an annualized 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the previous three months, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday in a preliminary report, tipping the country back into a technical recession following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The Q1 reading was even worse than analyst expectations for a 0.5 percent contraction following the downwardly revised 0.8 percent fall in the fourth quarter of 2010. On an annual basis, Japan's GDP plunged 3.7 percent in the first quarter - well shy of forecasts for a 2.0 percent fall following the downwardly revised 3.0 percent decline in the previous three months.
Nominal GDP was down 1.3 percent on quarter, below expectations for a 0.7 percent decline following the downwardly revised 1.1 percent fall in Q4.
According to a report from the Ministry of Finance, Japan residents bought a net 80.5 billion yen in foreign stocks in the week ended May 14. Japan investors also sold a net 165.5 billion yen in foreign bonds and notes last week. Foreign investors purchased a net 32.0 billion in Japan stocks last week, the data showed, and also bought 1.265 trillion yen in Japan bonds and notes.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 81 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 81.58 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore and Taiwan are up with strong gains. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Malaysia and New Zealand are trading modestly higher, while South Korea is trading in negative territory. Markets across the region ended mostly higher on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved higher on Wednesday thanks to a sharp surge in commodities prices and an upbeat earnings report from Dell.
The major averages closed firmly in positive territory, near their best levels of the day. The Dow moved up 80.6 points or 0.7 percent to 12,560.2, the Nasdaq jumped 31.8 points or 1.1 percent to 2,815 and the S&P 500 climbed 11.7 points or 0.9 percent to 1,340.7.
Major European markets posted strong gains on Wednesday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index gained 1.1 percent, while the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index ended higher by 0.9 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.
Crude oil prices rallied sharply on Wednesday as commodities rebounded on bargain hunting after recent heavy losses. Data revealing an unexpected decline in U.S. crude oil inventories too aided the surge. Light, sweet crude for June delivery ended up US$3.19 at US$100.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.