Market Update
Asian markets rose Tuesday tracking another record close for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street overnight.
The Nikkei edged up 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite declined 0.3% while the Hang Seng gained 1.1%. The Sensex traded flat and the All Ordinaries added 0.6%.
Japanese shares hit a six-year high in early trade before paring gains. The Cabinet Office released its December economic report earlier today in which it said prices are holding firm.
The markets in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia are all due to close early today to break for the Christmas holiday.
Stocks on the Move
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. accelerated 4.3% after the company raised operating profit estimates.
Fanuc lifted 1.8% while KDDI Corp. shot up 3.1%.
Panasonic gained sharply earlier on news of a joint venture with Israeli company Tower Semiconductor which would take over the chip-making at three of Panasonic’s facilities. But the shares fell later and last traded 1.7% lower.
Asahi Co. fell about 4% after reporting results that showed a drop in nine-month net profit.
Agricultural Bank of China was up 1.3% in Hong Kong while China Mobile gained half a percent.
Samsung was down 1.3% in Korea after researchers said they had found a vulnerability in the company’s flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone. Samsung said it takes all such claims seriously and will investigate but doesn’t believe the problem is as serious as the researchers say.
Bajaj Auto was the top gainer on the Sensex, up 1.7%, followed by BHEL, up 1.5%, and L&T, up 1.2%.
In Sydney, the four major banks were all up just over half a percent each. Index leader BHP Billiton edged up 0.4%.