Asia markets mixed; Nikkei up 0.4%, Kospi down 0.5%
Asia markets traded mixed on Thursday, with some markets partially retracing their advances following Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s cautious stance on the path of tightening earlier this week.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 wavered between gains and losses before trading up 0.41 percent, while across the Korean Strait, the Kospi traded down 0.54 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.17 percent.
Chinese markets traded higher, with the Shanghai composite up 0.36 percent and the Shenzhen composite adding 0.83 percent.
Australia’s ASX 200 was up 1.34 percent, boosted by advances in the financial, energy and materials subindexes, up 1.58, 1.06 and 1.05 percent respectively.
The country’s so-called Big Four banks – ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and NAB – advanced more than 1 percent each. They have lost ground recently amid concerns about potential losses related to their exposure to the resources sector.
But in a strategy note on Tuesday, Macquarie said that it remains positive on the banking sector, citing valuations and dividend yields.
“Impairment and capital concerns are real but we think overdone. We believe the sector is one of the few to offer pricing power,” Macquarie said.
On the currency front, the dollar remained weak in the wake of Yellen’s relatively dovish comments, which assuaged concerns about the possibility of an April interest rate hike. Prior to Yellen’s remarks, other Fed members had made more hawkish statements.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of currencies, recovered slightly to trade at 94.989 as of 12:13 p.m. HK/SIN time, compared with 94.841 overnight. On Tuesday, it finished at 95.160.
The Australian dollar traded at $0.7652 Thursday local time, up from levels around $0.75 last week.
Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG, said in a note that as long as the Fed keeps “talking down the dollar,” the Australian currency will remain strong.
The Japanese yen remained at the 112 handle against the dollar, with the dollar/yen pair trading at 112.32. Major exporters traded higher, withToyota up 0.13 percent, Nissan up by 1.2 percent and Honda higher by 3.89 percent.
In corporate news, on Wednesday after market close, Taiwan’s Foxconn said it has agreed to acquire Japanese electronics maker Sharp. Reuters reported Foxconn will pay about $3.5 billion for a two-thirds stake, nearly $900 million less than its initial offer. Shares of Sharp were down 2.96 percent.
Foxconn, which is also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, was up 1.08 percent.
Shares of airbag maker Takata gained 5.31 percent Thursday, after dropping 19.45 percent on Wednesday. Bloomberg News, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that Takata estimates the comprehensive callback of its airbag inflators would amount to about 2.7 trillion yen ($24 billion). On Thursday, Reuters reported that Takata denied it had calculated a cost estimate, saying that with investigations still underway, it was difficult to determine the recall’s price tag.
Toshiba shares advanced 6.38 percent, after the company announced on Wednesday it finalized a deal to sell an 80.1 percent stake in its home appliances unit to China’s Midea Group, according to Japanese newspaper Nikkei. The deal is worth roughly 53.7 billion yen ($477 million), Nikkei said.
The Chinese yuan traded nearly flat against the dollar at 6.4669 Thursday afternoon local time. Before market open, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) fixed the yuan mid-point rate at 6.4612 to the dollar, compared with Wednesday’s fix at 6.4841. China’s central bank lets the yuan spot rate rise or fall a maximum of 2 percent against the dollar, relative to the official fixing rate.
In Hong Kong, shares of Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties soared 18.04 percent at 45.80 Hong Kong dollars, after its parent company,Dalian Wanda Group, said it was looking take the real estate arm private. In a statement posted on the latter’s website, it is said Dalian Wanda is in the “preliminary phase of considering a voluntary general offer for the H [Hong Kong-listed] Shares.” The statement said the offer price will be no less than 48 Hong Kong dollars per share.
Oil prices retreated during Asian hours, with U.S. crude futures down 1.2 percent at $37.86 a barrel as of 12:11 p.m. HK/SIN time, while global benchmark Brent slipped 0.84 percent at $38.93.
Energy plays in the region were mixed, with shares of Santos up 0.25 percent, Woodside Petroleum down 0.15 percent and Inpex adding 2.92 percent. Chinese mainland shares of Sinopec were flat, whilePetroChina fell 0.39 percent.
Overnight, major indexes closed higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.47 percent, the S&P 500 adding 0.44 percent and theNasdaq composite higher by 0.47 percent.
Source: CNBC
