Market Update
Asian markets were higher Wednesday tracking a positive close on Wall Street overnight after reassuring comments from new Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen that U.S. monetary authorities will keep policy accommodative.
The Nikkei was up 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1% while the Hang Seng was up 1.1%. The Sensex was flat while the All Ordinaries added 0.9%.
In her first testimony before Congress yesterday, Yellen suggested the central bank could continue to taper the pace of its bond purchases if the economy continues to improve as hoped.
Earlier Wednesday, government data in China showed the country's trade surplus in January widened to CNY31.86 billion from CNY25.6 billion in December although the markets largely ignored the data.
In Japan, government data showed machinery orders fell 15.7% from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis against an expected decline of 4.1%. Another report showed the tertiary industry activity index for December declined 0.4% after rising 0.8% in November.
In Australia, Westpac Banking Corporation reported its consumer sentiment index fell 3% in February after falling 1.7% the previous month.
Stocks on the Move
Japan stocks returned after an extended break, catching up to gains. Nissan Motor accelerated 2.5% after it reported a 57% rise in its net income in its latest quarter. Shares of Honda Motor rose 3.2% after the company reported a 33% gain in January sales in China.
Dai-ichi Life Insurance was up 0.6% on its plans to buy Somo Japan DIY Life Insurance and offer low cost coverage by next year.
Sony was up 3.3% on a news report that said the company was in talks with Apple to double its sales of camera components for another iPhone.
Softbank was marginally lower after its U.S. subsidiary Sprint reported a fourth-quarter loss.
In Hong Kong, dairy stocks were gainers after one of China's largest dairy producers China Mengniu Diary said it would sell HK$5.15 billion worth of shares to Danone. Mengniu shares pared gains of over 8%, but were still up 2.3% at the time of writing. Yashili International Holdings was up 4%.
China Overseas Land & Investment advanced 5.5% after the company said its January contract sales more than doubled from December. Other property shares were also moved higher.
In Mumbai, investors focused on minister of railways for any new project announcements in the Railway Budget.
Top gainers in the Sensex were Gail India, up 3%, followed by ICICI Bank, up 2.2%, and RIL and ONGC, up 1.7% each, respectively.
Stocks in Sydney also rose on the back of some well-received earnings from banks and from miners.
CBA was up 0.4% while ANZ which reported earlier this week added 1.4% even as UBS upgraded the stock to BUY.
Also after results, OZ Minerals shot up 12.7% while real estate firm Stockland was up 4.8%.
CSL Ltd. fell 3% but Boral moved up 9% after several ratings upgrades.