Asian markets are exhibiting a slightly mixed trend on Thursday with investors treading cautiously amid lingering worries about the global economy. Though most of the markets in the region started off on a negative note following a weak lead from Wall Street, some of them rebounded smartly with investors indulging in some bargain hunting after recent sharp losses.
The Australian market is trading modestly higher amid selective buying at lower levels after a flat start and a subsequent fall. Financial, consumer staples, property trusts and mining stocks are finding support, while energy, healthcare and industrial stocks are trading mixed.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which declined to 4,029.5 earlier in the day, is currently trading at 4,071, up 20 points or 0.5 percent over its previous close. The broader All Ordinaries index is up 14.2 points or 0.3 percent at 4,140, well off the day's low of 4,101.5.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac are up 0.7 to 1.3 percent. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are down 0.9 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
Among miners, BHP Billiton, Rito Tinto and Fortescue Metals are up 0.9 to 1.2 percent, while Newcrest Mining is losing about 0.6 percent.
In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search are trading flat. Santos and Origin Energy are up 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, while Caltex Australia is down 1 percent.
Onesteel, Stockland, Commonwealth Property Office Fund, Westfield Group, Lend Lease, Lynas Corp., Dexus Property Group, CFS Retail Property Trust, Iluka Resources and Insurance Australia Group are trading sharply higher.
Meanwhile, Billabong International is down as much as 13 percent. Alumina, Goodman Fielder, WorleyParsons, Primary Healthcare, Incitec Pivot and Cochlear are trading lower by 1.8 to 3 percent.
David Jones Ltd. shares are down 4.2 percent after the retailer confirmed its forecast of a 15 to 20 percent drop in first-half profit following a 11.2 percent drop in first-quarter sales.
WorleyParsons, which moved up sharply in morning trades after the company said it won a contract worth A$205.54 million for project management consultancy for a refinery in Ecuador, gave up its gains and is currently trading in negative territory with a loss of 2.4 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened weak and slipped to its lowest levels in nearly two months. In early trades, the Aussie was quoting at US$0.9683, down from Wednesday's close of US$0.9760. The Australian dollar is currently trading at 0.9715 to the U.S. dollar.
In Tokyo, stock prices tumbled sharply with investors, back from a Labor Thanksgiving Day holiday, indulged in some heavy selling, tracking the overnight sharp setback in global markets due to lingering worries about the global economy.
As stocks plunged on heavy selling, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index plummeted to 8,084 in early trades, its lowest level since April 1, 2009. However, with a few blue chip stocks finding support at lower level, the index recovered some lost ground and was trading at 8,199.7 with a loss of 115 points or 1.4 percent at the end of the morning session or 1.5 percent from its previous close.
Automobile, finance, steel, non-ferrous metals, retail and construction stocks posted notable losses. Shares from electric power, services and manufacturing sectors also traded weak.
Among bank stocks, Aozora Bank lost more than 4.5 percent and Shinsei Bank declined by over 3.5 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial, Bank of Yokohama and Shizuoka Bank also drifted lower.
Automobile stocks Mazda Motor, Hino Motors, Toyota Motor, Mitsubishi Motor and Honda Motor traded weak. Nissan Motor and Suzuki Motor also declined, while Isuzu Motors moved up marginally.
Taiyo Yuden, Konami Corp, Sumco, Komatsu, Nomura Holdings, Pacific Metals, Kobe Steel, IHI, Mitsumi Electric, Fanuc, Mitsubishi Electric, Daiichi Sankyo and JFE Holdings lost 3 to 4.5 percent.
Fujitsu, Mitsui Mining, Toho Zinc, Advantest, Nippon Suisan, JX HD, Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Oji Paper and Nippon Light Metals were also down sharply in the red.
Olympus Corp jumped more than 9 percent on short-covering. Sony Financial, Tobu Railway, Kansai Electric Power and Asahi Group Holding posted modest gains.
Meanwhile, maintaining its basic assessment about economic recovery, the Japanese government has noted that there are signs of weakness in corporate capital spending due to slower exports and production.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 77 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 77.02 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Indonesia and New Zealand are trading weak, while Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably higher. Markets across the region ended notably lower on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks declined sharply on Wednesday as investors indulged in heavy selling amid concerns about the European debt crisis. Weak Chinese manufacturing data and a drop in U.S. durable goods orders too contributed to the slide.
The Dow plunged 236.2 points or 2.1 percent to 11,257.5, the Nasdaq tumbled 61.2 points or 2.4 percent to 2,460.1 and the S&P 500 ended down 26.3 points or 2.2 percent at 1,161.8.
Major European markets too closed on a highly negative note on Wednesday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index ended down 1.3 percent, the German DAX index lost 1.4 percent and the French CAC 40 index declined 1.7 percent.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday, as risk adverse traders trimmed positions ahead of Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday. Light, sweet crude for January delivery ended down US$1.84 or 1.9 percent, at US$96.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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