Asian Market Commentary
Asian Markets End In Negative Territory On Economic Concerns
11/20/2009 7:13 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
The markets across Asia ended in negative territory on Friday, taking cues from Wall Street where the major averages ended lower on concerns about sustaining the economic recovery following weak economic data. Strengthening of the dollar and drop in commodity prices also impacted market sentiment as traders preferred to adopt a wait-and-watch attitude and moved to sidelines locking gains from recent rally.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index fell 51.79 points, or 0.5%, to 9497.68, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues rose 1.00 point, or 0.1%, to 839.
On the economic front, the policy board of the Bank of Japan unanimously decided to retain the overnight call rate at 0.1%, in line with the expectations of economists. The last change in the rate was a 0.1% cut in interest rates at the December 2008 meeting.
In an accompanying statement, the central bank said, "Japan's economy is picking up mainly due to various policy measures taken at home and abroad, although the momentum of self-sustaining recovery in domestic private demand remains weak. In the conduct of monetary policy, the bank will aim to maintain the extremely accommodative financial environment."
Technology stocks declined after Dell reported a 54% drop in net profit for the third quarter. Advantest fell 2.87% and Tokyo Electron lost 2.99%.
Automotive stocks ended lower following weaker closing in Wall Street on concerns about recovery. Toyota Motor Corp declined 1.43%, Suzuki Motor fell 1.44%, Nissan Motor lost 2.82%, Honda Motor slipped 0.55%, and Mitsubishi Motor slumped 3.28%.
Trading companies ended mixed following strength in local currency. Toyota Tsusho Corp. slipped 0.67%, Mitsui & Co. shed 0.61%, Mitsubishi Corp. edged down 0.31% and Itochu Corp. declined 0.33%. However, Sumitomo Corp. gained 0.82% and Marubeni Corp. added 0.45%.
Mitsubishi Chemicals, which announced plans to purchase Mitsubishi Rayon in a tender offer yesterday, gained 9.18% after revealing that it would fund the acquisition from internal accruals and bank loans. Mitsubishi Rayon, which surged more than 29% in the previous session, gained 4.84% on huge volume.
Banking stocks bucked the trend and ended higher, mostly on short covering. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gained 3.49%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial advanced 1.51%, Mizuho Financial rose 1.94% and Resona Holdings climbed 2.47%.
Brokerage and securities also ended in positive territory. Nomura Holdings rose 3.08%, Daiwa Securities Group climbed 4.37% and Mizuho Securities gained 3.52%.
1
2
3
Next Page
|
|