Market Update
Shanghai markets led gains in Asia Thursday with investors expecting a flurry of data releases due at 1.30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time.
The Nikkei was up 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.3% while the Hang Seng was up 0.4%. The Sensex edged up 0.2% while the All Ordinaries traded up 0.5%.
Data due from China includes retail sales, industrial output, and fixed urban investment. Last week, the country reported an unexpectedly large fall in in its February exports, swinging the trade balance to a deficit.
Earlier today, data in Sydney showed Australia’s unemployment rate remained at 6% for the second straight month in February despite a better-than-expected rise in full-time positions.
Japanese machinery orders beat estimates, rising 13.4% in February versus expectations for a 7% increase.
Copper prices recovered a little and were off their four-year low that they touched Wednesday.
Stocks on the Move
Industrials hardly reacted to the machinery orders data as index heavyweight Fanuc edged up just 0.2% while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries reversed early gains and traded 0.2% lower. Kawasaki Heavy was down about a percent.
FamilyMart shares fell 2.6% after a Nikkei newspaper report the convenience store should see a record pretax profit of 47 billion yen for the financial year ended February. The company itself had earlier forecast a profit of 47.8 billion.
Among the major gainers, Renesas Electronics was up over 7% while TDK Corp. rose 1.3%.
In Hong Kong, China CITIC Bank Corp., AgBank, and China Construction Bank all rose almost about 2% each.
Jiangxi Copper was up 2.7% while gold digger Zhaojin Mining brightened 4.4%.
Among the gainers in Mumbai, RIL was up 2.3% while SBI and Tata Power were up 2.2% and 2% each, respectively.
ONGC, Dr. Reddy’s Lab, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, M&M, Tata Motors and a host of other stocks all gained over a percent each.
However, IT major slumped 7.4% after the company’s chief executive said the fourth-quarter could see sluggish growth due to subdued spending by clients and which could also spill over to the next financial year.
In Sydney, Fortescue Metals was up about 3% while Atlas Iron strengthened 6.3%. Index leader BHP Billiton rose 1.1% and Rio Tinto too advanced 2.5%.