Asian stock market are mostly trading in positive territory on Tuesday with investors picking up stocks, shrugging off an early setback. A rating downgrade of Greece and lingering worries about global economic growth set up a weak start for most of the markets in the region. Caution ahead of the release of crucial economic data from China too contributed to the weakness to an extent.
The Australian stock market declined sharply in morning trades, but has recovered well and regained a substantial portion of lost ground now with some key stocks from banking, energy, mining and information technology sectors finding strong support at lower levels.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which declined to around 4,512 earlier in the day, is now down 14.1 points or 0.3 percent at 4,548. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 15.9 points or 0.3 percent at 4,619, well off the day's low of 4,582.3.
Top miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are trading lower by over 1 percent despite coming off their lows. Bluescope Steel, Lynas Corporation, Fortescue Metals, Newcrest Mining, Orica and Onesteel are all trading notably lower.
Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search and Origin Energy are down 0.7 to 1.1 percent, while Santos is trading lower by about 1.6 percent.
In the banking space, ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are down with modest losses, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia is up marginally.
Paladin Energy is down by over 7.5 percent. Aristocrat Leisure, Harvey Norman Holdings, Connecteast Group, Downer EDI, News Corporation, David Jones, James Hardie Industries, Panaust and Tabcorp Holdings are down 1.8 to 4 percent.
Insurance Australia Group Ltd shares are down 0.6 percent. The company has announced that it will aim to accelerate growth in the local region, with a target of getting 10 percent of its gross written premium from Asia by 2016. The company says it has reset its strategic priorities, with an emphasis on accelerating growth in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
Territory Resources Ltd's board has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept a takeover offer from Hong Kong-based Noble Group Ltd. The Hong Kong commodities trader made an on-market takeover offer of 50 cents per share in cash for iron ore producer Territory last week. The stock is currently unchanged from its previous closing price.
On the economic front, confidence among Australian businesses declined in May, as a strong currency eroded confidence in manufacturing and retailing sectors, according to a survey by National Australia Bank. The confidence index dropped to 6 in May from 7 in April, reports said on Tuesday citing the monthly survey. Business conditions index fell four points to 1 during the month.
Business conditions in the mining sector improved sharply during the month, while confidence deteriorated in manufacturing, retailing and wholesale sectors. Manufacturing continues to report the weakest confidence levels of all industries, suggesting the high Australian dollar is continuing to weigh on sentiment, NAB chief economist Alan Oster was quoted as saying.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened flat and was quoting at US$1.0604 in early trades, slightly below Friday's close of US$1.0606.
After a flat start and a subsequent sharp upmove, the Japanese stock market faltered into the red before edging up a bit again on support at lower levels.
Stocks from the utilities sector rose sharply after the cabinet approved a scheme to help Tokyo Electric Power to compensate people affected by the nuclear crisis. A proposal to hike power tariff in the next financial year too is contributing to the rise of power stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rose to 9,488.6 in early trades but slipped into negative territory subsequently, recovered a bit towards the end of the morning session and was up 15 points or 0.16% at 9,463.20.
Shares of Tokyo Electric Power were up nearly 10 percent. Chubu Electic Power, Furukawa and Yokogawa Electric were gaining 2.3 to 3.3 percent.
TDK Corp., Fujikura, J Front Retailing, IHI, Ebara Corp., Seven & I Holding, Sapporo Holdings, NGK Insulators, Dainippon Screen, Ricoh, Sumitomo Realty and Secom were also trading sharply higher.
Among automobile stocks, Mitsubishi Motor was gaining over 2 percent. Nissan Honda Motor and Mazda Motor were also trading notably higher.
In the banking space, Mizuho Financial, Bank of Yokohama, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Chiba Bank were trading firm.
Japan Tobacco, Japan Steel Work, Mitsubishi Paper, Chiyoda, Nissan Chemical Industries, Sumitomo Chemicals and Mitsui Chemicals were down with notable losses.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 80 yen level in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 80.21 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably higher. Indonesia and Malaysia are up marginally, while Hong Kong and Singapore are trading slightly weak. Markets across the region turned in a mixed performance on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks ended flat after a choppy session on Monday, as spate of merger announcements failed to clear away the economic concerns that have weighed on stocks in recent weeks.
The Dow failed to regain the 12,000 level, though it spent some time above that mark early in the session. The blue-chip index gained a little more than a point on Monday to close at 11,953. The S&P 500 gained less than a point to close at 1,271.8 and the Nasdaq finished slightly lower on the day, slipping by about 4 points to 2,639.7.
Major European markets ended on a mixed note on Monday. The U.K.'s FTSE index ended 1.4 percent down, while the French CAC index and Germany's DAX index ended with marginal gains.
Crude oil prices declined sharply on Monday following a downgrade of Greece's credit ratings stoking worries about global economic growth and raising concerns about demand for oil. Light, sweet crude for July delivery ended down US$1.99 at US$97.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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