Asian Economic News
Asian Markets End In Positive Territory
3/11/2010 7:47 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
The markets across Asia ended in positive territory on Thursday, but well off the highs as traders expressed anxiety over Chinese inflation data and preferred to move to the sidelines. While the Japanese market surged on the yen's weakness and expectations of monetary easing measures, the other markets pared early gains and ended marginally higher.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index gained 101.03 points, or 0.96%, to 10,665, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues was up 7.94 points, or 0.86%, to 930.
On the economic front, the final report on Q4 GDP released by the Cabinet Office revealed that the country's gross domestic product rose 0.9% in the fourth quarter, slightly less than the 1% growth expected by economists and 1.1% growth reported in the preliminary report released last month. The report further noted that annualized GDP came in at 3.8%, missing economists' mean expectation of 4% growth and also sharply lower than the annualized 4.6% growth reported in the preliminary report.
Technology and export-related stocks gained taking cues from Nasdaq and helped by weaker local currency. TDK Corp climbed 3.02%, Kyocera Corp. advanced 1.17%, Sony Corp. rose 1.93%, Canon Inc. added 0.88% and Advantest Corp. increased 0.96%.
Real estate stocks ended higher. Mitsui Fudosan gained 2.63%, Sumitomo Realty & Development rose 1.53%, Mitsubishi Estate advanced 1.65%, Tokyu Land Corp. climbed 2.08% and Heiwa Real Estate advanced 0.68%.
Retail stocks also advanced on optimism about economic recovery. Seven & I Holdings rose 3.11%, Fast Retailing added 0.30%, Aeon Co., climbed 3.78%, J Front Retailing gained 2.25%, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings advanced 1.30%, and Takashimaya increased 1.62%.
Consumer finance company Credit Siason surged up 4.50% on speculation about monetary easing from the central bank.
Large banks also ended in positive territory. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial added 0.77%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial gained 0.88%, and Mizuho Financial rose 1.08%. However, Resona Holdings bucked the trend and ended in negative territory with a loss of 0.46%.
Among the losers, JFE Holdings slipped 1.00%, Pacific Metals Co. shed 0.84%, Nippon Steel lost 1.16% and Kobe Steel fell 1.66%.
In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 5.80 points, or 0.12% to close at 4,814, while the All-Ordinaries Index ended at 4,826, representing a loss of 4.30 points, or 0.09%.
On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the unemployment rate in the country edged higher in February, while the number of employed Australians increased less than expected. According to the report, the nation's jobless rate increased 0.1% to 5.3% from the downwardly revised 5.2% in January.
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