Active Stocks
Mon Mar 18 2024 15:55:53
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 149.60 5.69%
  1. Tata Motors share price
  2. 972.20 2.75%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 417.40 -0.51%
  1. State Bank Of India share price
  2. 730.70 -0.18%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,082.00 0.32%
Business News/ Market / Stock-market-news/  Asian markets down, Seoul bucks trend on rate cut
BackBack

Asian markets down, Seoul bucks trend on rate cut

Tokyo ends down 0.66%, Sydney closes flat, Seoul gains 1.18%, Hong Kong slides 0.14%, Shanghai falls 0.59%

The falls came despite Wall Street recording another record rise and European shares closing strongly on Wednesday, following the release of figures showing a strong rise in German industrial output during March. Photo: Reuters (Reuters)Premium
The falls came despite Wall Street recording another record rise and European shares closing strongly on Wednesday, following the release of figures showing a strong rise in German industrial output during March. Photo: Reuters (Reuters)

Hong Kong: Asian stocks were mostly lower on Thursday as dealers took profits after recent impressive gains, but higher-than-expected inflation figures out of China had little effect on the markets.

The falls came despite Wall Street recording another record rise and European shares closing strongly on Wednesday, following the release of figures showing a strong rise in German industrial output during March.

Tokyo ended down 0.66%, or 94.21 points, at 14,191.48—a day after hitting a near five-year high. Sydney closed flat, losing 1.4 points, at 5,198.4 despite data showing Australia’s unemployment rate fell in April.

Seoul bucked the trend after the central Bank of Korea surprisingly shaved the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.50%, the first cut for seven months. The KOSPI gained 1.18%, or 23 points, to 1,979.45.

Hong Kong slid 0.14%, or 32.87 points, to end at 23,211,48 while Shanghai fell 0.59%, or 13.33 points, to 2,232.97.

Figures released Thursday showed that inflation in the world’s second-biggest economy accelerated to 2.4% in April from 2.1% in March.

The consumer price index increased by 0.2% month-on-month in April, reversing a decrease of 0.9% in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The year-on-year figure was higher than the median forecast for a gain of 2.2% in a poll of 13 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.

“It’s more likely the market fell on profit-taking after gains in previous sessions," Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP.

“Inflation was only slightly higher than expected, so it had limited impact on the market."

Daisuke Uno, chief market strategist of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, said that after Japan’s Nikkei rose nearly 600 points following the recent long weekend “the market had to take a breather".

In New York Wednesday the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.32%, or 48.92 points, to close at 15,105.12—another all-time high following a number of strong sessions.

The S&P 500 increased 0.41%, its fifth consecutive record, while the Nasdaq added 0.49%.

Europe’s major stocks posted impressive results, with Frankfurt’s main index hitting another record level and London enjoying its most robust performance in more than five years.

London was 0.40% higher at 6,583.48 points, its strongest since November 1, 2007. Frankfurt’s DAX reached 8,249.71 points, beating the previous level set on Tuesday with a gain of 0.83%.

The gains came after provisional seasonally adjusted figures showed industrial production in Europe’s largest economy rose by 1.2% in March compared with the previous month.

On the forex market, the yen was firmer against the dollar in Asia, with few fresh leads before a two-day Group of Seven meeting of finance chiefs in Britain starting Friday.

The dollar eased to 98.77 yen from 99.01 yen. The euro fetched $1.3171 and 130.14 yen against $1.3156 and 130.35 yen in US trade on Wednesday.

Oil was down on profit-taking with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, shedding 62 cents to $96.00 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for June delivery dropping 75 cents to $103.59.

Gold was at $1,472.00 an ounce at 1030 GMT compared with $1,453.90 late Tuesday.

In other markets:

—Taipei rose 0.23%, or 18.8 points, to 8,285.89.

TSMC was 0.44% higher at Tw$115.0 while Acer fell 1.41% to Tw$24.5.

—Wellington was flat, losing 0.9 points, to 4,639.33.

Fletcher Building rose 0.5% to NZ$8.47 and Contact Energy slid 0.2% to NZ$5.60.

—Manila was 0.18%, or 13.13 points, higher at 7,194.43.

Metropolitan Bank added 0.31% to 127.60 pesos while Philippine Long Distance Telephone rose 0.26% to 3,116 pesos.

—Singapore rose 0.58%, or 19.76 points, to close at 3,432.78.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation added 0.64% to Sg$11.08 and oil-rig maker Keppel Corp gained 1.14% to Sg$10.66.

—Kuala Lumpur fell 0.45%, or 7.93 points, to 1,766.07.

CIMB lost 3.0% to 8.31 ringgit. Maybank slipped 1.8% to 9.98.

—Bangkok added 0.43%, or 6.97 points, to 1,621.12.

—Telecoms company Advance Info Service rose 3.21% to 289.00 baht and department store operator Central Pattana jumped 4.19% to 56.00 baht.

—Mumbai slid 0.26% or 51.14 points to 19,939.04.

Mining giant Vedanta Group’s local arm Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd fell 2.28% to 96.55 while Reliance Industries Ltd fell 1.33% to 818.10.

—Jakarta was closed for a public holiday. AFP

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 09 May 2013, 09:23 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App