Market Update
The Nikkei led gains for the Asian markets Wednesday following a positive finish on Wall Street overnight.
The Nikkei gained 1.4%. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.2% along with the Hang Seng. The Sensex moved up 0.3% while the All Ordinaries also added 0.3%.
Data earlier today in Australia showed approvals to build new homes fell more-than-expected last week to a seasonally adjusted 5% from 6.9% in the preceding week.
Stocks on the Move
Renesas Electronics surged 6.5% after a report the company may sell its chip-making unit for smartphone displays. Renesas responded in a statement saying the report was not based on something it had previously announced but they were considering various options for the unit.
Auto stocks were smartly higher on a combination of some upbeat sales figures in the U.S. and a weak yen. Toyota gained slightly over a percent while Honda and Nissan were both up about 2% each. Mazda revved up 3.7%. Fuji Heavy Industries gained 2.9%, helped by a 21% increase in sales of its Subaru brand.
Other exporters were also all higher.
Kyushu Electric dropped over 5% on a Nikkei report the utility is in talks with the Development Bank of Japan to secure a 100 billion yen investment.
Property stocks advanced in Hong Kong and on the mainland. Poly Real Estate was up 7% in Shanghai after it said late Monday 2013 net income and revenue were up 27% and 34% each, respectively.
The Sensex hit yet another lifetime high in morning trade with Airtel the top gainer on the Sensex, up 3.8%. ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, RIL, NTPC, Cipla, Tata Power, and HDFC all gained over a percent each.
Axis Bank was down 1.6% after the regulator said foreign institutional investors, or FII’s, will not be allowed to buy more shares in the lender as the total holding by FII’s had already breached the overall limit of 49%.
In Sydney, breads and spreads maker Goodman Fielder plunged over 20% after the company issued a profit warning.
BHP Billiton was up about a percent.