Asian shares edge higher on solid US data, Ukraine anxiety lingers

 

 

Tokyo: Asian shares edged higher on Tuesday after upbeat US data helped Wall Street bounce from a sharp selloff in recent days, though tensions in Ukraine tempered demand for riskier assets. 

 

The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1%, edging back towards an 11-month high of 486.70 hit last week.

 

The small gains underlined the tense geopolitical backdrop as the crisis in Ukraine kept investors on edge.

Ukraine’s president threatened military action after pro-Russian separatists occupying government buildings in the east ignored an ultimatum to leave and another group of rebels attacked a police headquarters in the region. The flare-up came less than a month after Russia completed its annexation of Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula.

 

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.8% after skidding to a six-month low on Monday.

On Monday, encouraging retail sales from the world’s biggest economy, which had been bogged down by a harsh winter, gave some respite for the Standard & Poor’s and Nasdaq indexes, which had just suffered their worst week since June 2012. 

 

 

Persistent signs of slowing growth in China also added to the recent anxiety in global markets. A recovering US economy should help ease concerns about slack in the global economy.

 

Investors in the US also took heart from news that Citi’s quarterly net profit rose, as a smaller loss on its troubled assets offset lower revenue and profit from its core trading and lending businesses.

In the currency markets, the dollar held steady after the solid US retail sales data. The euro remained under pressure on weekend comments from European Central Bank officials, including ECB President Mario Draghi, who rekindled speculation about more easing in the euro zone.

 

The dollar stood at ¥101.86, little changed from late New York trade on Monday, when it pulled away from a three-week trough of 101.32 hit late last week.

The euro was also steady at $1.3816, having been knocked off a three-week peak of $1.3906 hit last week on the back of the dovish comments from ECB officials.

“Jawboning by policymakers and the risk of more stimulus should be enough to put a top in the EUR/USD but unfortunately there are other factors at play that are out of the ECB’s control,” Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, wrote in a note to clients.

 

 

“With the European Sovereign Debt crisis in the distant memory, capital inflows are returning to Europe, creating demand for euros. At the same time, there is very little upside momentum in US yields even after today’s strong retail sales report,” Lien said.

US Treasuries yields rose on Monday as stocks gained on the better-than-expected retail sales data, but the 10-year US Treasury note was still at 2.644%, not far from a six-week low of 2.603% hit on Monday.

Tensions in the Ukraine was felt across commodity markets.

 

 

Nickel traded near a 14-month high of $1,7917 a tonne scaled on Monday in the wake of Indonesia’s ongoing ore export ban, now in its third month, and prospects of tougher sanctions on Russia, a leading producer of the metal.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange was at $1,7870 a tonne.

“The Indonesia story has not changed ... there is no sign yet that there might be any reversal of the policy,” Natixis analyst Nic Brown said.

 

 

“And I think when you hear the Americans starting to talk about potential sanctions on Russia, people instinctively look at palladium and nickel: two metals that could be affected either by sanctions or by Russian retaliation.”

Gold was near its three-week high of $1,330.90 touched on Monday when renewed concerns over hostilities in the Ukraine increased the precious metal’s safe-haven appeal.

Spot goldtraded at $1,321.75 an ounce.

 

 

Brent crude oil was at $108.46 a barrel, within shot of a five-week peak of $109.12 hit on Monday.

US wheat futures clung much of its gains after surging nearly 3% on Monday on tensions in the breadbasket Black Sea region coupled with a threat of freeze damage to crops in the US Plains.

Chicago Board of Trade wheat for May delivery edged down 0.6% to from $6.78-3/4 per bushel. 

 

 

 Mumbai: The 30-share bellwether BSE Sensex on Tuesday was trading over 150 points lower led by shares of banking, realty, auto, capital goods and oil & gas firms and also ahead of WPI and Inflation data.\

 

At 9.35 am, the 30-share Sensex was trading at 22479.68, down 0.66% or 149.28 points lower while National Stock Exchange’s broader barometer 50-share Nifty was trading down 0.62%, or 42.05 points, to 6,734.25 points.

The gainers included Infosys Ltd that jumped 3.27% to Rs.3341.55 after it posted better then expected Q4 results. Net income rose to Rs.2992 crore, up 4% while Revenues fell 1.15% to Rs.12875 crore. Bharti Airtel Ltd. rose 1.54% to Rs.326.85.

Among the losers, Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd fell 1.27% to Rs.906 while Bajaj Auto Ltd was down 0.89% to Rs.1986.20.

The BSE IT and Teck index was the top sectoral gainer on the BSE up 1.74% and 1.58% respectively. BSE Bankex was top loser on the BSE, down 1.42% followed by BSE Realty, Auto, Capital goods and Oil & Gas down 1.29%, 1.14%, 0.97% and 0.77% respectively.

 

 

upee opens lower at 60.30 against the US dollar

 

 

 

 

 

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday opened lower tracking the weakness in Asian currencies against the US dollar and ahead of WPI and CPI inflation data. It opened at 60.30 per dollar against its Friday’s close of 60.18.

Overnight, the US dollar rose after a robust set of US retail sales data and positive results from US banking major Citigroup. Retail sales in the US rose 1.1% in March.

Citigroup on Monday reported that its first-quarter adjusted net income rose to $4.15 billion, or $1.30 per share, from $4.00 billion, or $1.29 per share a year earlier. Total net income under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles rose to $3.94 billion, or $1.23 per share, from $3.81 billion, or $1.23 per share.

All Asian currencies were trading lower with South Korean won down 0.32%, Philippine Peso down 0.22%, Thai baht down 0.15% and Malaysian ringgit down 0.07%.

At 9.54am, the local unit was trading at 60.31, down 0.22% from previous close, while India’s benchmark index, Sensex was trading at 22,464.90 points on BSE, down 0.73%.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 2.48%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $4.83 billion during the period from local equity markets.

 

 

 

md.aquil alam 

pgdm 2nd semester 

source ; live mint