Market Update
Shanghai outperformed other markets in the Asian region Thursday after most indexes lost early gains to end below the flat-line ahead of key data from the region.
At close, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.1% while the All Ordinaries added 0.5%.On the downside, the Sensex lost 0.4% and the Hang Seng was down 0.7%.
Japan's Nikkei ended just below the flat-line, down 0.1%.
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 reacted to the machinery orders data as index heavyweight Fanuc edged up 0.4% while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries reversed early gains and traded 0.5% lower. Kawasaki Heavy lifted 1.8%.
FamilyMart shares fell 2.1% 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 0.5%.
In Hong Kong, China CITIC Bank Corp., AgBank, and China Construction Bank all gave up gains to end flat to slightly higher.
Jiangxi Copper was up 1.5% while gold digger Zhaojin Mining brightened 4.4%.
Among the losers in Mumbai, IT major Infosys slumped 8.5% 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.
Close competitor TCS was down 1.2%.
Sun Pharma plunged over 5%, SSLT lost 1.5% and Axis Bank retreated 1.2% among other losers.
In Sydney, Fortescue Metals was up 3% while Atlas Iron strengthened 6.3%. Index leader BHP Billiton rose 1.1% and Rio Tinto was up 0.3%.