Asia Pacific share market ended mixed on Monday, 27 April 2015, amid
caution over upcoming central bank meetings later this week. The MSCI
Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2% to 156.37.
Regional market commenced trading mostly higher on tracking positive close of Wall Street last Friday. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 both closed at record highs on Friday following tech third-quarter earnings reports. But, most of early gains trimmed after downgrade of Japan and a lack of a bailout deal for Greece.
Investors were also awaited a rate decision by the US monetary policy committee. The U.S. Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday while the Bank of Japan is due out with its monetary policy decision on Thursday.
Fitch ratings agency said Monday it had cut its credit grade for Japan to A from A+ citing a lack of government reforms to the budget, weak growth, and high debt. The Japanese government has increased spending to kickstart growth but analysts say the plan has not be followed up sufficiently well with reforms to control high public debt.
Investors were also keeping eyes on the progress in Greece's bailout talks with European creditors. Greece's Yanis Varoufakis was rebuked Friday for failing to come up with a list of reforms the creditors want before they release new loans.
Among Asian bourses
Miners drive Australia market to seven-year closing high
The Australian share market advanced to a seven-year closing high, on the back of bargain buying across the board, with shares of materials and resources and energy companies being major gainers after the iron ore price to a five-week high of $57.81 a tonne. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 49.40 points, or 0.83%, to 5982.70, while the broader All Ordinaries Index added 48 points, or 0.81%, to 5954.80. Market turnover was relatively healthy, with 1.81 billion shares changing hands worth of A$4.73 billion.
Shares of materials and resources companies were higher, with iron-ore miners leading the rally, buoyed by the rebound in the iron ore price and news last week the miners was able to refinance its debt. Resources giant BHP Billiton added 1.6% to A$32.57, while Rio Tinto rose 3.4% to A$59.77. Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group was tup 16.3% to A$2.57.
Energy producers were also broadly stronger as Brent crude oil remained above $65 per barrel. Australia's biggest oil producer Woodside Petroleum added 1.4% to A$35.89. Santos lifted 4.4% to A$8.35. Origin Energy was up 1.5% to A$13.06 and Oil Search rose 1.3% to A$8.43.
Junior telecommunications provider iiNet surged 13.2% to A$9.80 after M2 Group lobbed a A$1.6 billion scrip offer, besting an earlier A$1.4 billion cash offer from rival TPG Telecom.
Nikkei drops 0.18% on profit booking
Japanese share market closed lower, amid continued profit booking after the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average soared past 20000 last week for the first time in 15 years. Meanwhile, sentiment was bruised by rising yen, couple of disappointing earnings reports and on caution ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee and the Bank of Japan's policy setting meeting later this week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined 36.72 points, or 0.18%, to finish at 19983.32. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares ended marginal 0.23 point, or 0.01%, up at 1619.07.
Shares of export-related companies were mixed as a rising yen triggered profit booking. The dollar was buying 119.32 yen, lower than the 119.62 yen recorded at the same time on Friday. Nintendo Co fell 0.8%, Mitsubishi Electric Corp 0.1%, and Sony Corp 0.3%. On the other hand, Panasonic Corp rose 0.8% and Nikon Corp 0.6%. Mitsubishi Motors Corp fell 4.1% and Mazda Motor Corp shrank 2.8% after their respective earnings results. Mazda forecasted an operating profit of 210 billion yen for the current fiscal year, missing market estimates for 230.8 billion yen.
NEC Corp advanced 4.9% as computer maker's preliminary profit topped its forecast and after reports the Japanese company would team with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co on a cloud-computing venture in Asia.
Lawson Inc jumped 3.2% on reported plans to open more of its convenience stores at local railway stations.
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. jumped 3.9% on a report the company will beat its net income forecast.
Shanghai Composite surges to seven-year high
Mainland China equity market advanced to seven-year highs , on hopes of more monetary stimulus, infrastructure projects and state firm mergers. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 133.71 points, or 3.04%, to 4527.40 points. The CSI300 index, the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, improved 104.95 points, or 2.23%, to 4807.59.
Barring information technology, all SSE industry groups advanced, with energy issue leading the rally, up 6%, followed by industrial issue up 5%. Meanwhile, utilities sector added 2.3%, financials up 2.3%, materials up 1.9%, telecommunication services up 1.7%, consumer staples up 1.1%, and healthcare up 1.1%.
Shares of state firms advanced the most, led by heavyweights such as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and PetroChina Co on expectations that Beijing will accelerate mergers among state-owned enterprises (SOEs). China will likely cut the number of its central government-owned conglomerates to 40 through massive mergers, as Beijing looks to overhaul the vast underperforming state sector, state media reported on Monday. Currently, there are 112 SOEs controlled by the central government. Oil giants China Petroleum & Chemical and PetroChina jumped 10% limit on merger expectations. Bets on consolidation also pushed shares of China Shipbuilding, CSSC Holdings and Guangzhou Shipyard International Co up over 8%.
Hang Seng rises 1.33%
The Hong Kong stock market finished the session sharply higher, on the back of slew of market friendly news, including HKMA injection of HK$1.7 billion on Friday into banking system, rumors of HSBC plans to sell its UK retail business of GBP20 billion, and on expectations that Beijing will accelerate mergers in the underperforming sector. The Hang Seng Index ended up 372.61 points or 1.33% to 28433.59, off an intra-day high of 28588.52 (which is 7.5-year high) and day low of 28,245.14. Turnover increased to HK$190.87 billion from HK$167.4 billion on Friday.
Shares of oil majors jumped across the board after market rumour that the central government is studying the merger proposals between Sinopec (00386) and PetroChina (00857), and that between CNOOC (00883) and Sinochem. Sinopec, PetroChina and CNOOC gained 7.2%, 6.7% and 2.3% to HK$7.63, HK$10.64, and HK$13.42 respectively. Kunlun Energy (00135) also shot up 4.8% to HK$9.49.
COSCO Pacific advanced 3.3% to HK$12.42 after the Company posted profit 19.7% year-on-year rise in net profit to US$76.994 million for the three months ended 31 March 2015. The Group's total throughput of terminals business achieved steady growth, with a year-on-year increase of 6.6% to 16.47 million TEU. The equity throughput increased by 4.9% to 4.58 million TEU.
China Shenhua Energy net profit dropped 41.8% year-on-year to Rmb6445 million for the three months ended 31 March 2015. The revenue was Rmb39911 million, a decrease of 34.5% from a year earlier. Its shares closed 2% to HK$20.55.
Sensex closes 261 points down
A broad based decline was witnessed on the Indian bourses on the first trading session of the week. Pharma, oil & gas and cement stock led decline for key benchmark indices. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit their lowest closing level in almost 16 weeks. The market sentiment was hit adversely by data released by the stock exchanges showing that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pressed sales of Indian stocks during the preceding trading session on Friday, 24 April 2015. The Sensex dropped 260.95 points or 0.95% to settle at 27,176.99. All the twelve sectoral indices on BSE were in the red.
Pharma stocks declined. Bank stocks also declined. ICICI Bank dropped in choppy trade as the bank's non-performing assets rose in Q4 March 2015. Maruti Suzuki India advanced after strong Q4 earnings. UltraTech Cement declined after weak Q4 earnings. Shares of public sector oil marketing companies declined. Shares of upstream oil exploration firms also dropped.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 723.21 crore into the secondary equity market during the previous trading session on Friday, 24 April 2015, as per data from Central Depository Services (India). Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 896.33 crore on Friday, 24 April 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided that in all cases of foreign institutional investors receiving income from transactions in securities seeking treaty benefits under the provisions of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs), decision may be taken on such claims within one month from the date such claim is filed. The officers concerned have been directed accordingly, according to an announcement by CBDT posted in the government's website today, 27 April 2015. This pertains to the tax notices sent by IT department directing payment of minimum alternate tax (MAT) by FPIs.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region: South Korea KOSPI fell 0.1% to 2157.54. Taiwan's Taiex index added 0.6% to 9973.12. Singapore's Straits Times index added 0.08% at 3515.85. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index fell 3.5% to 5245.455. Malaysia's KLCI was down 0.16% to 1859.58.
Regional market commenced trading mostly higher on tracking positive close of Wall Street last Friday. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 both closed at record highs on Friday following tech third-quarter earnings reports. But, most of early gains trimmed after downgrade of Japan and a lack of a bailout deal for Greece.
Investors were also awaited a rate decision by the US monetary policy committee. The U.S. Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday while the Bank of Japan is due out with its monetary policy decision on Thursday.
Fitch ratings agency said Monday it had cut its credit grade for Japan to A from A+ citing a lack of government reforms to the budget, weak growth, and high debt. The Japanese government has increased spending to kickstart growth but analysts say the plan has not be followed up sufficiently well with reforms to control high public debt.
Investors were also keeping eyes on the progress in Greece's bailout talks with European creditors. Greece's Yanis Varoufakis was rebuked Friday for failing to come up with a list of reforms the creditors want before they release new loans.
Among Asian bourses
Miners drive Australia market to seven-year closing high
The Australian share market advanced to a seven-year closing high, on the back of bargain buying across the board, with shares of materials and resources and energy companies being major gainers after the iron ore price to a five-week high of $57.81 a tonne. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 49.40 points, or 0.83%, to 5982.70, while the broader All Ordinaries Index added 48 points, or 0.81%, to 5954.80. Market turnover was relatively healthy, with 1.81 billion shares changing hands worth of A$4.73 billion.
Shares of materials and resources companies were higher, with iron-ore miners leading the rally, buoyed by the rebound in the iron ore price and news last week the miners was able to refinance its debt. Resources giant BHP Billiton added 1.6% to A$32.57, while Rio Tinto rose 3.4% to A$59.77. Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group was tup 16.3% to A$2.57.
Energy producers were also broadly stronger as Brent crude oil remained above $65 per barrel. Australia's biggest oil producer Woodside Petroleum added 1.4% to A$35.89. Santos lifted 4.4% to A$8.35. Origin Energy was up 1.5% to A$13.06 and Oil Search rose 1.3% to A$8.43.
Junior telecommunications provider iiNet surged 13.2% to A$9.80 after M2 Group lobbed a A$1.6 billion scrip offer, besting an earlier A$1.4 billion cash offer from rival TPG Telecom.
Nikkei drops 0.18% on profit booking
Japanese share market closed lower, amid continued profit booking after the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average soared past 20000 last week for the first time in 15 years. Meanwhile, sentiment was bruised by rising yen, couple of disappointing earnings reports and on caution ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee and the Bank of Japan's policy setting meeting later this week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined 36.72 points, or 0.18%, to finish at 19983.32. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares ended marginal 0.23 point, or 0.01%, up at 1619.07.
Shares of export-related companies were mixed as a rising yen triggered profit booking. The dollar was buying 119.32 yen, lower than the 119.62 yen recorded at the same time on Friday. Nintendo Co fell 0.8%, Mitsubishi Electric Corp 0.1%, and Sony Corp 0.3%. On the other hand, Panasonic Corp rose 0.8% and Nikon Corp 0.6%. Mitsubishi Motors Corp fell 4.1% and Mazda Motor Corp shrank 2.8% after their respective earnings results. Mazda forecasted an operating profit of 210 billion yen for the current fiscal year, missing market estimates for 230.8 billion yen.
NEC Corp advanced 4.9% as computer maker's preliminary profit topped its forecast and after reports the Japanese company would team with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co on a cloud-computing venture in Asia.
Lawson Inc jumped 3.2% on reported plans to open more of its convenience stores at local railway stations.
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. jumped 3.9% on a report the company will beat its net income forecast.
Shanghai Composite surges to seven-year high
Mainland China equity market advanced to seven-year highs , on hopes of more monetary stimulus, infrastructure projects and state firm mergers. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 133.71 points, or 3.04%, to 4527.40 points. The CSI300 index, the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, improved 104.95 points, or 2.23%, to 4807.59.
Barring information technology, all SSE industry groups advanced, with energy issue leading the rally, up 6%, followed by industrial issue up 5%. Meanwhile, utilities sector added 2.3%, financials up 2.3%, materials up 1.9%, telecommunication services up 1.7%, consumer staples up 1.1%, and healthcare up 1.1%.
Shares of state firms advanced the most, led by heavyweights such as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and PetroChina Co on expectations that Beijing will accelerate mergers among state-owned enterprises (SOEs). China will likely cut the number of its central government-owned conglomerates to 40 through massive mergers, as Beijing looks to overhaul the vast underperforming state sector, state media reported on Monday. Currently, there are 112 SOEs controlled by the central government. Oil giants China Petroleum & Chemical and PetroChina jumped 10% limit on merger expectations. Bets on consolidation also pushed shares of China Shipbuilding, CSSC Holdings and Guangzhou Shipyard International Co up over 8%.
Hang Seng rises 1.33%
The Hong Kong stock market finished the session sharply higher, on the back of slew of market friendly news, including HKMA injection of HK$1.7 billion on Friday into banking system, rumors of HSBC plans to sell its UK retail business of GBP20 billion, and on expectations that Beijing will accelerate mergers in the underperforming sector. The Hang Seng Index ended up 372.61 points or 1.33% to 28433.59, off an intra-day high of 28588.52 (which is 7.5-year high) and day low of 28,245.14. Turnover increased to HK$190.87 billion from HK$167.4 billion on Friday.
Shares of oil majors jumped across the board after market rumour that the central government is studying the merger proposals between Sinopec (00386) and PetroChina (00857), and that between CNOOC (00883) and Sinochem. Sinopec, PetroChina and CNOOC gained 7.2%, 6.7% and 2.3% to HK$7.63, HK$10.64, and HK$13.42 respectively. Kunlun Energy (00135) also shot up 4.8% to HK$9.49.
COSCO Pacific advanced 3.3% to HK$12.42 after the Company posted profit 19.7% year-on-year rise in net profit to US$76.994 million for the three months ended 31 March 2015. The Group's total throughput of terminals business achieved steady growth, with a year-on-year increase of 6.6% to 16.47 million TEU. The equity throughput increased by 4.9% to 4.58 million TEU.
China Shenhua Energy net profit dropped 41.8% year-on-year to Rmb6445 million for the three months ended 31 March 2015. The revenue was Rmb39911 million, a decrease of 34.5% from a year earlier. Its shares closed 2% to HK$20.55.
Sensex closes 261 points down
A broad based decline was witnessed on the Indian bourses on the first trading session of the week. Pharma, oil & gas and cement stock led decline for key benchmark indices. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit their lowest closing level in almost 16 weeks. The market sentiment was hit adversely by data released by the stock exchanges showing that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pressed sales of Indian stocks during the preceding trading session on Friday, 24 April 2015. The Sensex dropped 260.95 points or 0.95% to settle at 27,176.99. All the twelve sectoral indices on BSE were in the red.
Pharma stocks declined. Bank stocks also declined. ICICI Bank dropped in choppy trade as the bank's non-performing assets rose in Q4 March 2015. Maruti Suzuki India advanced after strong Q4 earnings. UltraTech Cement declined after weak Q4 earnings. Shares of public sector oil marketing companies declined. Shares of upstream oil exploration firms also dropped.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 723.21 crore into the secondary equity market during the previous trading session on Friday, 24 April 2015, as per data from Central Depository Services (India). Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 896.33 crore on Friday, 24 April 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided that in all cases of foreign institutional investors receiving income from transactions in securities seeking treaty benefits under the provisions of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs), decision may be taken on such claims within one month from the date such claim is filed. The officers concerned have been directed accordingly, according to an announcement by CBDT posted in the government's website today, 27 April 2015. This pertains to the tax notices sent by IT department directing payment of minimum alternate tax (MAT) by FPIs.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region: South Korea KOSPI fell 0.1% to 2157.54. Taiwan's Taiex index added 0.6% to 9973.12. Singapore's Straits Times index added 0.08% at 3515.85. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index fell 3.5% to 5245.455. Malaysia's KLCI was down 0.16% to 1859.58.
