Agence France-Presse
6:25 pm | Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013
A man walks by the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. Asian stock markets wavered between gains and losses Tuesday after Japan’s central bank ceded to political pressure and announced stimulus measures aimed at extricating the country from years of economic malaise. AP PHOTO/ITSUO INOUYE
HONG KONG—Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei falling and the yen strengthening as dealers were left disappointed by the Bank of Japan’s plan to boost the economy.
After a two-day meeting the central bank said it would adopt a two percent inflation target that had been demanded by the country’s new government while also launching an open-ended asset-purchase scheme.
Tokyo enjoyed an initial and brief surge after the announcement, jumping into positive territory, but it soon fell back as investors read the details.
The Nikkei index ended 0.35 percent, or 37.81 points, lower at 10,709.93.
Seoul gained 0.49 percent, or 9.66 points, to 1,996.52, while Sydney was flat, nudging up 1.6 points to 4,779.1.
Hong Kong was 0.29 percent higher, adding 68.08 points, to 23,658.99 but Shanghai fell 0.56 percent, or 13.08 points, to 2,315.14.
The Japanese central bank also lifted its growth forecast for the country’s economy, predicting gross domestic product would expand 2.3 percent in the year ended March 2014, up from an earlier 1.6 percent estimate.
Abe and his Democratic Party of Japan swept to power in the poll and have since moved to bring BoJ policies into line with his new government’s position.
Dealers have been betting on fresh easing by the bank to boost the economy, while there were also expectations it would fall into line with Tokyo’s inflation target demand.
The dollar and euro also enjoyed a quick surge against the yen but the advances were soon reversed.
In afternoon trade the dollar, which on Friday in New York hit 90.24 yen—its highest since June 2010 — bought 89.02 yen in Tokyo against 89.50 yen late in Europe Monday.
The euro bought 118.96 yen from 119.20 yen while the single currency bought $1.3358 against $1.3320.
US markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday.
“Upon closer review, the BoJ’s plan had already been so well telegraphed into the market that ‘merely meeting expectations’ did not cut it for investors,” an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage told Dow Jones Newswires.
“In the end, while the yen weakening over the last two months has been nice to see—and especially welcome for exporters’ margins—key US and European growth needs to return to help corporate fundamentals to improve.”
And Wee-Khoon Chong, senior interest rate strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong, said the news was “pretty much in line with expectations. There was not much of a surprise as most of it was already well telegraphed in advance.”
Oil prices were mixed, with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, rose 53 cents to $96.09 a barrel in the afternoon while Brent North Sea crude for March gained 33 cents to $112.02.
Gold was at $1,692.40 at 0830 GMT compared with $1,688.89 late Monday.
In other markets:
– Taipei rose 0.44 percent, or 34.18 points, to 7,759.1.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was 0.50 percent higher at Tw$101.0 while leading integrated circuit design house MediaTek added 0.63 percent to Tw$318.5.
– Manila fell 1.08 percent, or 66.80 points, to 6,104.90.
– Wellington was flat, edging up 1.90 points to 4,187.08.
Telecom added 0.21 percent to NZ$2.365, Contact Energy was unchanged at NZ$5.17 and Fletcher Building was down 0.11 percent at NZ$9.29.
Follow Us
Recent Stories:
Short URL: http://business.inquirer.net/?p=103799
Tags: Asia , Crude prices , Finance , Forex , gold price , Stock Activity , stocks
Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer's day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer's Reader's Advocate. Or write The Readers' Advocate:
seo tools
No comments:
Post a Comment