The confidence of South Korean manufacturers declined, reaching 30-month low, as producers cut their Europe exports outlook. A gauge measuring predictions for February fell to 81, which is the lowest reading since July 2009, said Bank of Korea. Index measuring expectations for non-manufacturing goods was flat at 79. Any reading below 100 means that pessimists offset optimists.
Japanese retail sales expanded at the quickest pace since 2010, said Trade ministry. Nation's retail sales added annual 2.5% in December 2011, posting the biggest gain since August 2010 and signalling the consumers may start to recover from the earthquake. Economists questioned by Bloomberg previously predicted an increase of 2.1%. Clothes and food contributed most to the increase in Japan's retail sales.
German DAX Index retreated on Thursday on the positive news from Federal Reserve and on investor hopes Greek debt talks will soon resume. German benchmark added 1.5% to 6,516.48 and extended upward trend later in the day. All 9 sectors within the index posted gains, driven by consumer services and utilities. Industrial component producer Thyssenkrupp AG rallied 4.9%, while trading
UK FTSE 100 Index recovered from two day losses on Thursday as Federal Reserve said it will keep its key interest rates low for longer time period amid signalling about possible additional asset purchases. UK benchmark index rallied 1.1% to 5,788.11 in London day trade, led by resource and financial stocks. Vedanta Resource jumped 7.7%, Rio Tinto gained 5% while
Industrial metals soared amid depreciating US Dollar and decreasing inventories at the LME warehouses. Moreover, ABN AMRO expects nickel, zinc and aluminum to edge up in the Q1 of 2011. Base metals also continued to feel strong backup from the inspiring industry data from the US and the EU. However, the positive trend may be impacted by the growing concerns
Energy markets, except for Brent oil, advanced on Wednesday on the softer US Dollar after Fed's decision on the further monetary policy in the US. Crude oil inched up 0.28% even despite pressure from increasing oil stockpiles in the US. Natural gas was the top performer soaring 6.85% over the day as the commodity continued to get strong support from
Agricultural commodities faced mixed performance on Wednesday, with grain rallying and coffee and sugar falling. Grain commodities found support on the broadly weaker US Dollar and fears over possible exports curbs by the major producers as Russia and Argentina. Coffee lost 1.22% on Wednesday on the surging coffee stockpiles at ICE Futures Exchange and improved weather conditions in Brazil. Moreover,
Precious metals advanced on Wednesday, following Fed's announcement of holding the interest rate at the low level till the end of 2014. Broadly weaker US Dollar and expected increase in physical demand from India ahead of wedding season both lifted precious metals' price. However, uncertainty over Greek debt swap may cap the upswing. ABN AMRO contributed to the increase in
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average opened higher on Thursday but erased gains later and closed into negative area, dropping 0.41% or 36.52 points to 8,847.17. Exporters experienced the biggest losses as Toshiba Corp. declined 1.7%, Sharp Corp. edged down 0.6% and Hitachi Ltd. gave up 0.9%. Nintendo Co and NEC Corp. lost 0.9% and 1.2% respectively ahead of their earnings reports.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced rapidly on Thursday, as investors returned from 5-day Lunar New Year holidays and appreciated the Fed decision of extending period for low interest rates. Hang Seng Index rallied 1.64% or 328.77 points and closed at 20,439.14, supported by financial, resource and logistics stocks. Aluminum Corp. of China added 3.3%, Sino Land Co. surged 4.8%,
European shares closed lower on Wednesday, weighted by Novartis and Ericsson as both companies reported sharp declines in profits. Stoxx 600 index lost 0.4% and closed at 254.95 and CAC 40 index ended 0.3% down at 3,312.48. FTSE 100 gave up 0.5% and finished at 5,723.00. Only German DAX performed better and traded flat at 6,421.85.
Natural gas continued to advance for the third consecutive day on Wednesday following Chesapeake Energy's announcement on energy output reduction and expected fall in the US stockpiles. Natural gas February contract traded at USD2.787 per million British thermal units at the late US session, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, soaring 7.15%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average Index recovered on Wednesday, lifted by Bernake's announcement Fed will leave interest rates close to zero till late 2014 instead of 2013. Federal Reserve also is considering the third asset purchase program. Blue chip index surged 0.64% or 81.21 points and settled at 12,756.96, reaching 8-month record high. The main gainer was Caterpillar Inc. which jumped
Crude oil futures soared on Thursday following the Fed's decision to leave interest rates low till end of 2014 to boost economic expansion. Light, sweet crude oil futures for March delivery traded at USD99.83 a barrel during the Asian session, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gaining 0.44% since opening.
A member from Angela Merkel's party refused recommendations from IMF that ECB should also take losses on Greece's debt. Christine Lagarde called yesterday for additional support from European governments to reduce Greek debt burden. However, ECB sees participating in accepting losses as a harmful action that can threaten confidence in the bank, said two people from ECB familiar with the
S&P 500 Index surged on Wednesday on Federal Reserve announcement, the institution will keep its key interest rate low by the end of 2014. US benchmark index climbed 0.87% or 11.41 points and finished at 1,326.06, with all 10 sectors posting gains. Apple shares extended gains, climbing 6% on excellent earnings report. On the downside Wellpoint Inc. dropped 4.76%, as
US natural gas stockpiles are expected to have declined much more than season' s average during the last week amid colder weather in the Northeast. The estimation based on the 16 analysts' forecasts predicts the stocks to have fallen by 5.3% or by 175 billion cubic feet to 3.115 trillion cubic feet over the last week. The average stockpile weekly
South Korea's economy expanded less than expected in the Q4 of 2011 due to weak demand caused by global economic slowdown. The GDP grew by 0.4% in Q4 as compared to 0.8% increase in Q3, the central bank reported. Considering yearly changes, the GDP expanded by 3.4% in Q4. The Bank of Korea added that slowing exports create difficulties to
The IMF warned of 20-30% jump in the oil price if Iran oil exports are impacted. The sanctions imposed by the EU on Iran are equivalent to oil blockade, so the market may face similar shock to Libya's revolution in 2011. In case Iran blocks the Straits of Hormuz the shock can be much larger. Currently, the oil stocks of
Russia may again face capital outflow in the nearest future, said Alexei Ulyukayev from the Russian Central Bank. He added that this phenomenon may appear in the current quarter but is likely to disappear as quickly as it occurs. The bank also announced its inflation forecast of 0.6-0.7% in January which is much more optimistic than 1% initially expected.
The US Dollar depreciated to the lowest reading in five weeks after Federal Reserved said it plans to leave its benchmark rate unchanged for one more year and also claimed to prepare for third asset purchase program. Dollar fell 0.2% against greenback in London trade, reaching $1.3127. EUR/USD currency pair currently is trading at $1.3107.
Germany faced an increase in the optimism among its consumers since the beginning of 2012. Willingness to purchase and economic expectations both improved essentially while income expectations stayed almost unchanged. The gauge of economic expectation added 8.4 points and willingness to purchase soared 14.4 points while income expectations indicator posted 0.1 points gain.
Gold posted strong gains on Wednesday after falling on Tuesday. The RSI for gold is bullish, suggesting further upswing in the commodity price. The yellow metal is likely to grow further to 1,714.55 level, after cutting this level gold is expected to jump to December's high of 1,762.50, then it could aim November's high of 1,802.75.
Hyundai Motors reported 38% increase in profits for Q4 as sales in the foreign and domestic markets jumped. Net income attained 1.8 billion US Dollars in the Q4. The company has mostly benefited from production cuts in Japan and weak Won. However, experts predict increased competition in the car market as Toyota and Honda start to recover.