Asia Pacific share market advanced on Tuesday, 17 March 2015, as
appetite for risk assets bolstering after the Bank of Japan maintains
its pace of quantitative easing and growing prospect of stimulus in
China.
The regional market opened on positive note, tracking positive leads from overseas market, with Wall Street up over 1% and the German stock market hitting a record high overnight as investors continue to pile into European stocks after the European Central Bank launched its quantitative-easing program.
Meanwhile, market maintained its gains after the Bank of Japan maintained its pace of quantitative easing. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) left its main policy unchanged on Tuesday and signalled its conviction that a steady economic recovery will help achieve its ambitious price target without immediate, additional monetary easing. The BoJ issued a statement after a two-day meeting ending Tuesday, 17 March 2015, stating that its policy board voted 8-1 to keep unchanged the size of the bank's annual asset purchases at 80 trillion yen ($660 billion).
Premier Li Keqiang's said on Sunday that the government will take additional steps if China's growth, which the government targeted at about 7% this year, drifts toward the lower limit of its range and cuts into employment or wages. Li's positive tone on growth bolstered investor confidence.
Traders are now keeping an eye on a two-day US Federal Reserve policy meeting that starts Tuesday, hoping it will provide an idea about its timetable for raising interest rates. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last month the Fed's pledge to be “patient” on starting to raise borrowing costs means an increase is unlikely for “at least the next couple” of meetings.
Whether the Fed will drop the word "patient" in describing its timetable for raising interest rates from a record low is a focal point for investors this week. Most economists expect the word to be removed from the statement the Fed will issue on Wednesday. But estimates of when the first rate hike will come are swinging between mid-year and later in the year. Investors are hoping that weaker-than-expected U.S. data released on Monday will prompt the Federal Reserve to leave its options open this week on the timing of a future rate hike.
Among Asian bourses
Australia market rise solidly
The Australian share market advanced on Tuesday, 17 March 2015, on the back of bargain buying across the sectors, with energy, mining and financial blue-chips leading the way. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 44.40 points, or 0.77%, to 5842.10 and the broader All Ordinaries Index grew 41.30 points, or 0.72%, to 5811. Market turnover was relatively healthy, with 1.66 billion shares changing hands worth of A$4.6 billion. Rising stocks outperformed by declining ones, with total of 725 stocks up, while remaining 582 down.
In the minutes from its March board meeting, the RBA said it was of the view that bleak economic growth figures and low inflation could pave the way for further cash rate cuts.
The big four banks were all higher after the Reserve Bank indicated it will consider a rate cut in coming weeks. Commonwealth Bank advanced 1.8% to A$93.41, Westpac Banking Corp 1.5% to A$38.54, ANZ Banking Group 1% to A$35.91, and National Australia Bank 1.3% to A$38.42.
Shares of mining companies were also up, with BHP Billiton leading the rally, up 1.3% to A$29.77 on reports that South32 - the company that will be spun out of BHP Billiton - will return at least 40% of its underlying earnings to shareholders in the form of dividends. Rio Tinto was up 0.2% to A$57.84. Mt Gibson rocketed 6.9% to A$0.23 and BC Iron strengthened 3.9% to A$0.40. Fortescue Metals Group fell 2% to A$1.97 after scrapping a planned A$3.3 billion loan, looking instead to raise that debt by selling bonds.
Nikkei rallies 1%
Japanese share market closed the session with gain, driven by good leads from overseas market overnight and as the Japan central bank maintained a pledge to expand the monetary base at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen. The Nikkei Stock Average advanced 190.94 points, or 0.99%, to close at 19437. The broader Topix index fell 12.29 points, or 0.79%, to 1570.50.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries inclined 1.8% to 691.60 yen and Hitachi rose 4.3% to 835.70 yen on reports that the both companies will aim to achieve a return on equity ratio (ROE) above 10%.
Industrial robot maker Fanuc resumed their upward trend, gaining 2.1% to 27270 yen after the company said last week that it would consider measures to increase shareholder returns, including raising its dividend and buying back shares.
Game console maker Nintendo surged 1.4% to 14080 yen on news that U.S. private investment manager Capital Research and Management currently owns a stake of over 15% in the company--boosting investor confidence that the company may yet turn itself around.
Tokyo Gas gained 2.3% to 756.5 yen, after reports that the company will probably buy back shares in May through June as part of an effort to increase ROE.
Pigeon added 4.7% to 9,590 yen after Credit Suisse raised its rating on the company to outperform from neutral and target price to 10,800 yen from 7,600 yen , citing sales strength in China as well as other emerging markets such as Turkey, India and Russia.
China market extends gain on stimulus bets
Mainland China share market finished the session with strong gain, amid growing hopes of more stimulus measures from Beijing, after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's pledged to take action if economic growth slows too much. The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 53.54 points, or 1.55%, to 3502.85, the highest level since May 2008. The CSI300 index, the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, rose 51.45 points, or 1.39%, to 3757.12.
All ten SSE industry groups advanced, with industrial issue leading the rally, up 3.1%, followed by utilities (2%), materials (up 1.4%), energy (up 1.4%), financial (up 1.3%), consumer staples (up 0.9%), telecommunication services (up 0.9%), consumer discretionary (up 0.8%), information technology (up 0.5%), and healthcare (up 0.1%),
Shares of rail-related companies advanced on reports that state-backed companies are planning a merger deal to eliminate competition. China Railway Construction Corp jumped 5.3% to 14.42 yuan, while China Railway Group gained 6% to 8.89 yuan.
Brokerages shares rose after report that China is drafting rules that would help expand securities firms' wealth management businesses, potentially broadening their revenue streams. Citic Securities rose 2.9% to 29.60 yuan and GF Securities added 3.5% to 25.29 yuan.
Shares of civil aviation surged on speculation falling oil prices will boost earnings. Air China and China Southern Airlines Co. each rallied 10% daily limit to 9.66 yuan and 7.82 yuan, respectively.
The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Tuesday that China attracted $8.56 billion of foreign direct investment in February, up 0.9% from a year earlier. The figure was down significantly from January's $13.92 billion, which was 29.4% higher than a year earlier. For the first two months of 2015, FDI rose 17% on year to $22.48 billion. In 2014, FDI rose 1.7% to $119.6 billion. Inbound services investments accounted for around 55.4% of inbound investments last year while manufacturing accounted for 33.4%, with the remainder falling in other categories.
Hong Kong market falls on profit booking
Hong Kong stocks closed the session down after erasing early gain, as profit booking triggered late afternoon following a three-day rally driven by hopes China will unveil fresh economy-boosting measures. In afternoon session, the HK government said the Chief Executive would meet the media, triggering woes of tightening of "individual visit scheme" policy. The index fell nearly 150 points in 10 minutes. But the Chief Executive only talked about family matters. The Hang Seng Index declined 48.06 points, or 0.2%, to close at 23901.49, off an intra-day high of 24106.47 and day low of 23822.78. Turnover increased to HK$80.09 billion from HK$73.16 billion on Monday.
Shares of Macau companies declined after Citi Research maintained its Macau March GGR forecast at MOP22.5bn, down 37% YoY. Sands China (01928) slipped 2.9% to HK$9.95. Galaxy Ent (00027) dipped 0.7% to HK$33.6. Melco Dev (00200) declined 3.8% to HK$12.02. Wynn Macau (01128) dropped 2.5% to HK$15.44. SJM Holdings (00880), MGM China (02282), and Melco Crown (06883) fell more than 2% to HK$9.33, HK$13.96 and HK$54.
Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.3% in December 2014 - February 2015, same as that in November 2014 - January 2015. The underemployment rate decreased from 1.6% in November 2014 - January 2015 to 1.5% in December 2014 - February 2015, according to the Census and Statistics Department. On the short-term outlook, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said as it is customary for employers to conduct their annual review of staffing position after the Lunar New Year, the near-term employment outlook will continue to hinge on the overall economic situation and business sentiment, in particular the performance of the consumption and tourism-related sectors down the road.
Sensex, Nifty log 1st rise in 3 days
Indian stock market closed higher, on tracking higher global shares which rose on hopes weak economic data would prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to leave options open on the timing of an interest rate hike. Besides, sentiment was buoyed by data that showed Foreign Direct investment (FDI) in India more than doubled to USD 4.48 billion in January, the highest inflow in last 29 months. As per provisional closing, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 284.82 points or 1% to 28,722.53. The CNX Nifty was up 90.15 points or 1.04% at 8,723.30
Indian ndex heavyweights HDFC, ITC, L&T, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank edged higher. Another index heavyweight Infosys dropped. Shares of power generation firms were mixed. Cement shares were in demand. TCS rose after the company announced that it has expanded its presence in Singapore with the opening of the new 1000-person TCS Singapore Banking and Financial Services Center.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Lok Sabha today, 17 March 2015, that India's current account deficit will hopefully be less than 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the next fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the yearly SBI Composite Index for March 2015 inched up to 54.6 (Moderate Growth) from 53.5 (Moderate Growth) in February 2015, a 6-month high, according to Ecowrap which is an economics research publication from State Bank of India (SBI).
Meanwhile, Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Ms Christine Lagarde yesterday, 16 March 2015, said that India is among the few major economies in the world with a strong growth outlook. Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, 16 March 2015, said that India's reforms are not restricted to legislation alone and implementation and direction are equally important.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 762.55 crore yesterday, 16 March 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 158.65 crore yesterday, 16 March 2015, as per provisional data.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region: South Korea KOSPI rose 2.14% to 2029.91. Taiwan's Taiex grew 0.28% to 9539.44. New Zealand NZX50 was down 0.1% to 5905.41. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index added 0.1% to 5439.15. Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.2% at 3369.95. Malaysia's KLCI added 0.4% to 1787.87.
The regional market opened on positive note, tracking positive leads from overseas market, with Wall Street up over 1% and the German stock market hitting a record high overnight as investors continue to pile into European stocks after the European Central Bank launched its quantitative-easing program.
Meanwhile, market maintained its gains after the Bank of Japan maintained its pace of quantitative easing. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) left its main policy unchanged on Tuesday and signalled its conviction that a steady economic recovery will help achieve its ambitious price target without immediate, additional monetary easing. The BoJ issued a statement after a two-day meeting ending Tuesday, 17 March 2015, stating that its policy board voted 8-1 to keep unchanged the size of the bank's annual asset purchases at 80 trillion yen ($660 billion).
Premier Li Keqiang's said on Sunday that the government will take additional steps if China's growth, which the government targeted at about 7% this year, drifts toward the lower limit of its range and cuts into employment or wages. Li's positive tone on growth bolstered investor confidence.
Traders are now keeping an eye on a two-day US Federal Reserve policy meeting that starts Tuesday, hoping it will provide an idea about its timetable for raising interest rates. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last month the Fed's pledge to be “patient” on starting to raise borrowing costs means an increase is unlikely for “at least the next couple” of meetings.
Whether the Fed will drop the word "patient" in describing its timetable for raising interest rates from a record low is a focal point for investors this week. Most economists expect the word to be removed from the statement the Fed will issue on Wednesday. But estimates of when the first rate hike will come are swinging between mid-year and later in the year. Investors are hoping that weaker-than-expected U.S. data released on Monday will prompt the Federal Reserve to leave its options open this week on the timing of a future rate hike.
Among Asian bourses
Australia market rise solidly
The Australian share market advanced on Tuesday, 17 March 2015, on the back of bargain buying across the sectors, with energy, mining and financial blue-chips leading the way. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 44.40 points, or 0.77%, to 5842.10 and the broader All Ordinaries Index grew 41.30 points, or 0.72%, to 5811. Market turnover was relatively healthy, with 1.66 billion shares changing hands worth of A$4.6 billion. Rising stocks outperformed by declining ones, with total of 725 stocks up, while remaining 582 down.
In the minutes from its March board meeting, the RBA said it was of the view that bleak economic growth figures and low inflation could pave the way for further cash rate cuts.
The big four banks were all higher after the Reserve Bank indicated it will consider a rate cut in coming weeks. Commonwealth Bank advanced 1.8% to A$93.41, Westpac Banking Corp 1.5% to A$38.54, ANZ Banking Group 1% to A$35.91, and National Australia Bank 1.3% to A$38.42.
Shares of mining companies were also up, with BHP Billiton leading the rally, up 1.3% to A$29.77 on reports that South32 - the company that will be spun out of BHP Billiton - will return at least 40% of its underlying earnings to shareholders in the form of dividends. Rio Tinto was up 0.2% to A$57.84. Mt Gibson rocketed 6.9% to A$0.23 and BC Iron strengthened 3.9% to A$0.40. Fortescue Metals Group fell 2% to A$1.97 after scrapping a planned A$3.3 billion loan, looking instead to raise that debt by selling bonds.
Nikkei rallies 1%
Japanese share market closed the session with gain, driven by good leads from overseas market overnight and as the Japan central bank maintained a pledge to expand the monetary base at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen. The Nikkei Stock Average advanced 190.94 points, or 0.99%, to close at 19437. The broader Topix index fell 12.29 points, or 0.79%, to 1570.50.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries inclined 1.8% to 691.60 yen and Hitachi rose 4.3% to 835.70 yen on reports that the both companies will aim to achieve a return on equity ratio (ROE) above 10%.
Industrial robot maker Fanuc resumed their upward trend, gaining 2.1% to 27270 yen after the company said last week that it would consider measures to increase shareholder returns, including raising its dividend and buying back shares.
Game console maker Nintendo surged 1.4% to 14080 yen on news that U.S. private investment manager Capital Research and Management currently owns a stake of over 15% in the company--boosting investor confidence that the company may yet turn itself around.
Tokyo Gas gained 2.3% to 756.5 yen, after reports that the company will probably buy back shares in May through June as part of an effort to increase ROE.
Pigeon added 4.7% to 9,590 yen after Credit Suisse raised its rating on the company to outperform from neutral and target price to 10,800 yen from 7,600 yen , citing sales strength in China as well as other emerging markets such as Turkey, India and Russia.
China market extends gain on stimulus bets
Mainland China share market finished the session with strong gain, amid growing hopes of more stimulus measures from Beijing, after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's pledged to take action if economic growth slows too much. The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 53.54 points, or 1.55%, to 3502.85, the highest level since May 2008. The CSI300 index, the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, rose 51.45 points, or 1.39%, to 3757.12.
All ten SSE industry groups advanced, with industrial issue leading the rally, up 3.1%, followed by utilities (2%), materials (up 1.4%), energy (up 1.4%), financial (up 1.3%), consumer staples (up 0.9%), telecommunication services (up 0.9%), consumer discretionary (up 0.8%), information technology (up 0.5%), and healthcare (up 0.1%),
Shares of rail-related companies advanced on reports that state-backed companies are planning a merger deal to eliminate competition. China Railway Construction Corp jumped 5.3% to 14.42 yuan, while China Railway Group gained 6% to 8.89 yuan.
Brokerages shares rose after report that China is drafting rules that would help expand securities firms' wealth management businesses, potentially broadening their revenue streams. Citic Securities rose 2.9% to 29.60 yuan and GF Securities added 3.5% to 25.29 yuan.
Shares of civil aviation surged on speculation falling oil prices will boost earnings. Air China and China Southern Airlines Co. each rallied 10% daily limit to 9.66 yuan and 7.82 yuan, respectively.
The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Tuesday that China attracted $8.56 billion of foreign direct investment in February, up 0.9% from a year earlier. The figure was down significantly from January's $13.92 billion, which was 29.4% higher than a year earlier. For the first two months of 2015, FDI rose 17% on year to $22.48 billion. In 2014, FDI rose 1.7% to $119.6 billion. Inbound services investments accounted for around 55.4% of inbound investments last year while manufacturing accounted for 33.4%, with the remainder falling in other categories.
Hong Kong market falls on profit booking
Hong Kong stocks closed the session down after erasing early gain, as profit booking triggered late afternoon following a three-day rally driven by hopes China will unveil fresh economy-boosting measures. In afternoon session, the HK government said the Chief Executive would meet the media, triggering woes of tightening of "individual visit scheme" policy. The index fell nearly 150 points in 10 minutes. But the Chief Executive only talked about family matters. The Hang Seng Index declined 48.06 points, or 0.2%, to close at 23901.49, off an intra-day high of 24106.47 and day low of 23822.78. Turnover increased to HK$80.09 billion from HK$73.16 billion on Monday.
Shares of Macau companies declined after Citi Research maintained its Macau March GGR forecast at MOP22.5bn, down 37% YoY. Sands China (01928) slipped 2.9% to HK$9.95. Galaxy Ent (00027) dipped 0.7% to HK$33.6. Melco Dev (00200) declined 3.8% to HK$12.02. Wynn Macau (01128) dropped 2.5% to HK$15.44. SJM Holdings (00880), MGM China (02282), and Melco Crown (06883) fell more than 2% to HK$9.33, HK$13.96 and HK$54.
Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.3% in December 2014 - February 2015, same as that in November 2014 - January 2015. The underemployment rate decreased from 1.6% in November 2014 - January 2015 to 1.5% in December 2014 - February 2015, according to the Census and Statistics Department. On the short-term outlook, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said as it is customary for employers to conduct their annual review of staffing position after the Lunar New Year, the near-term employment outlook will continue to hinge on the overall economic situation and business sentiment, in particular the performance of the consumption and tourism-related sectors down the road.
Sensex, Nifty log 1st rise in 3 days
Indian stock market closed higher, on tracking higher global shares which rose on hopes weak economic data would prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to leave options open on the timing of an interest rate hike. Besides, sentiment was buoyed by data that showed Foreign Direct investment (FDI) in India more than doubled to USD 4.48 billion in January, the highest inflow in last 29 months. As per provisional closing, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 284.82 points or 1% to 28,722.53. The CNX Nifty was up 90.15 points or 1.04% at 8,723.30
Indian ndex heavyweights HDFC, ITC, L&T, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank edged higher. Another index heavyweight Infosys dropped. Shares of power generation firms were mixed. Cement shares were in demand. TCS rose after the company announced that it has expanded its presence in Singapore with the opening of the new 1000-person TCS Singapore Banking and Financial Services Center.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Lok Sabha today, 17 March 2015, that India's current account deficit will hopefully be less than 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the next fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the yearly SBI Composite Index for March 2015 inched up to 54.6 (Moderate Growth) from 53.5 (Moderate Growth) in February 2015, a 6-month high, according to Ecowrap which is an economics research publication from State Bank of India (SBI).
Meanwhile, Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Ms Christine Lagarde yesterday, 16 March 2015, said that India is among the few major economies in the world with a strong growth outlook. Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, 16 March 2015, said that India's reforms are not restricted to legislation alone and implementation and direction are equally important.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 762.55 crore yesterday, 16 March 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 158.65 crore yesterday, 16 March 2015, as per provisional data.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region: South Korea KOSPI rose 2.14% to 2029.91. Taiwan's Taiex grew 0.28% to 9539.44. New Zealand NZX50 was down 0.1% to 5905.41. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index added 0.1% to 5439.15. Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.2% at 3369.95. Malaysia's KLCI added 0.4% to 1787.87.
