Asian stocks rise on US, Japan
Source: Bloomberg News |
August 16, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ASIAN stocks rose yesterday after United States retail sales increased by the most in four months and Japan's second-quarter gross domestic product beat economist estimates.
Toyota Motor Corp, the largest carmaker by market value, climbed 2.9 percent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's biggest mining company, gained 4.3 percent in Sydney amid optimism metals demand will pick up. Leighton Holdings Ltd, Australia's biggest builder, surged 8.3 percent after saying it expects to return to annual profit. PICC Property & Casualty Co jumped 10 percent in Hong Kong after first-half earnings almost doubled from a year earlier.
"Investors may be heartened that things don't seem quite as disastrous as they seemed," said Stephen Halmarick, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which oversees about US$150 billion. "Still, markets have got to come to terms with the fact that global growth isn't going to be nearly as robust as they once expected."
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.4 percent after the Cabinet said gross domestic product shrank at an annual 1.3 percent rate in the three months ended June 30. The median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 2.5 percent drop.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 3.3 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 2.6 percent. The Taiex Index added 2.4 percent in Taipei.
Futures on the US S&P 500 Index added 0.6 percent. The gauge rose 0.5 percent last Friday, capping the biggest two-day advance for key indexes since March 2009, after the Commerce Department reported a 0.5 percent increase in retail sales for July. First-time applications for jobless benefits fell in the week ended August 6 to the fewest since early April, the Labor Department said last Thursday.
Toyota Motor Corp, the largest carmaker by market value, climbed 2.9 percent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's biggest mining company, gained 4.3 percent in Sydney amid optimism metals demand will pick up. Leighton Holdings Ltd, Australia's biggest builder, surged 8.3 percent after saying it expects to return to annual profit. PICC Property & Casualty Co jumped 10 percent in Hong Kong after first-half earnings almost doubled from a year earlier.
"Investors may be heartened that things don't seem quite as disastrous as they seemed," said Stephen Halmarick, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which oversees about US$150 billion. "Still, markets have got to come to terms with the fact that global growth isn't going to be nearly as robust as they once expected."
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.4 percent after the Cabinet said gross domestic product shrank at an annual 1.3 percent rate in the three months ended June 30. The median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 2.5 percent drop.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 3.3 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 2.6 percent. The Taiex Index added 2.4 percent in Taipei.
Futures on the US S&P 500 Index added 0.6 percent. The gauge rose 0.5 percent last Friday, capping the biggest two-day advance for key indexes since March 2009, after the Commerce Department reported a 0.5 percent increase in retail sales for July. First-time applications for jobless benefits fell in the week ended August 6 to the fewest since early April, the Labor Department said last Thursday.
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