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Market Update

Asian Markets Gain; Sensex Hits Fresh Record

Asian markets all ended higher Friday with the Sensex capping a week of gains with a fresh high.

The Nikkei gained 0.9%. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.7% while the Hang Seng edged up 0.1%. The Sensex rallied 1.3% and the All Ordinaries edged up 0.2% at close.

Overnight, Wall Street ended with gains following some upbeat economic reports, barring unemployment data. Asian markets were also supported by a better-than-expected manufacturing report on China released Thursday.

Stocks on the Move

Sony ended 0.8% lower as investors remained unimpressed after the company's conference call on corporate strategy held yesterday.

Exporters were supported by a weaker yen with the dollar at 101.82 yen earlier, up from 101.46 Thursday.

Toshiba, Sharp, and NEC were all up over half a percent each. Toshiba also offered an update with its President Hisao Tinaka announcing a plan to increase revenue by about 15% over the next two years.

Canon closed flat, but its peer group stocks all ended higher. Panasonic was up 1.1% while Olympus and Fujitsu closed up 1.9% and 1.4% each, respectively.

Sumitomo Corp. rose 2.5% after the company reported results.

JFE Holdings declined 0.7%. The Nikkei reported the steelmaker is planning a bid for Russian rival Severstal’s U.S. assets.

Toyota gained 0.6% despite news it is recalling over 430,000 vehicles. Fuji Heavy was up 1.5%.

Sunac China Holdings surged 8% in Hong Kong after it said it would take a 20% stake in rival Greentown China Holdings. Greentown shares added 6.6%.

Property stocks were among the gainers after state media reported Beijing may ease restrictions on home purchases in all except the biggest cities.

Wharf Holdings gained 2.9% while China Overseas Land & Development advanced 5.4%. On the mainland, Poly Real Estate gained 4.3% while China Vanke rose 3.3%.

However, top weighted component HSBC Holdings edged down 0.1% and the Chinese banks also closed mixed.

Power shares surged in Mumbai on hopes the new government would remove long-standing bottlenecks in the sector.

Tata Power closed up 6.3% while NTPC gained 4.4%, extending the previous day’s gains.

Lender SBI led gains, up 9.7% to a three-year high as it announced results that were better than estimates. The company also declared a dividend.

Also after results, ITC ended 0.8%.

Maruti Suzuki closed up 5.3% while ONGC climbed 3.7%. Copper producer SSLT was up 3.4% to its highest since August 2011. BHEL rose 3.3%.

Coal India was up 2%, adding to hefty gains of over 5% Thursday.

Former Sensex constituent Reliance Communications gained 4.1% on reports it is in talks to sell a 50% stake in its undersea cable business to Hong Kong’s Citic Telecom.

Cleaning company Spotless Group made a strong debut in Sydney as it closed 12 cents higher than its offer price and finished the day at A$1.72.

The financial sector led gains for the markets with the big four banks all ending higher, Westpac standing out with a 1% gain.

Treasury Wine Estates rallied 4.7% after reports a Chinese firm is considering making a takeover bid. Earlier this week, Treasury said it had rejected an offer from private equity firm KKR.

Qantas closed at a seven month high as it soared 4.7%.

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