Market Update
The Nikkei slipped into the red after trading higher much of the day Thursday while other Asian markets remained little changed.
The Nikkei was down 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng were both up 0.3%. The Sensex slipped 0.1% while the All Ordinaries gained 1.2%.
Earlier Thursday, Japanese government data showed core machinery orders rose unexpectedly by 9.3% in November, soundly beating expectations for a mere 1.2% rise.
Also in the morning, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the economy is expected to continue to recover moderately.
Elsewhere in the region, data showed the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8% in Australia last month, in line with expectations.
Stocks on the Move
Tokyo Electric Power was up 2% following government approval of the power firm’s turnaround plan but pared those gains and was up just 0.2%.
Among the big movers, Sharp Corp. was up about 7%.
The upbeat machinery orders data was positive for equipment makers and Hitachi Construction Machinery lifted half a percent. Tadano was up 2.4% while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries gained 1.7%.
In auto, Nissan accelerated 2.1% while Honda was up a percent.
Index heavyweight China Mobile was up 0.7% in Hong Kong, a day before it begins selling the iPhones and after it said the pre-orders for the device has hit 1 million units already.
Telecom equipment shares also gained while shares of China Mobile’s smaller rivals fell sharply. China Unicom was down 2.4% while China Telecom was down 0.8%.
China South City Holdings skyrocketed a whopping 66% after the company said Tencent Holdings would invest about HKD1.5 billion for near about a 10% stake. Tencent Holdings was up 2.9%.
The Sensex erased early gains as the top loser Airtel dropped 4.8% after some brokerages downgraded some of the frontline telecom stocks. Other losers included Tata Motors, ONGC, M&M, and ITC, all down in a range between 1.1% and 1.8%.
TCS was down 0.7% ahead of its results due later today. The broader-market listed HCL Technologies was up 2.1% after reporting results.
RIL was up half a percent on recent reports it plans to acquire a stake in a Venezuela crude oil block.
Major miner Rio Tinto gained over 2%, boosting the Aussie index after an upbeat production report. Other miners also traded higher with index leader BHP Billiton up 2.5% and Fortescue Metals 3.8% higher.
Gold digger Newcrest Mining brightened 7% after J.P. Morgan raised its rating on the shares.