Asian markets down, Seoul bucks trend on rate cut
A man walks past an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 8, 2013. Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Thursday as dealers took profits after recent impressive gains, but higher than expected inflation figures out of China had little effect on the markets. AP PHOTO/KOJI SASAHARA
HONG KONG—Asian stocks were mostly lower on Thursday as dealers took profits after recent impressive gains, but higher than expected inflation figures out of China had little effect on the markets.
The falls came despite Wall Street recording another record rise and European shares closing strongly on Wednesday, following the release of figures showing a strong rise in German industrial output during March.
Tokyo ended down 0.66 percent, or 94.21 points, at 14,191.48—a day after hitting a near five-year high. Sydney closed flat, losing 1.4 points, at 5,198.4 despite data showing Australia’s unemployment rate fell in April.
Seoul bucked the trend after the central Bank of Korea surprisingly shaved the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.50 percent, the first cut for seven months. The KOSPI gained 1.18 percent, or 23 points, to 1,979.45.
Hong Kong slid 0.14 percent, or 32.87 points, to end at 23,211,48 while Shanghai fell 0.59 percent, or 13.33 points, to 2,232.97.
Figures released Thursday showed that inflation in the world’s second-biggest economy accelerated to 2.4 percent in April from 2.1 percent in March.
The consumer price index increased by 0.2 percent month on month in April, reversing a decrease of 0.9 percent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
The year-on-year figure was higher than the median forecast for a gain of 2.2 percent in a poll of 13 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.
“It’s more likely the market fell on profit-taking after gains in previous sessions,” Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP.
“Inflation was only slightly higher than expected, so it had limited impact on the market.”
Daisuke Uno, chief market strategist of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., said that after Japan’s Nikkei rose nearly 600 points following the recent long weekend “the market had to take a breather.”
In New York Wednesday the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.32 percent, or 48.92 points, to close at 15,105.12—another all-time high following a number of strong sessions.
The S&P 500 increased 0.41 percent, its fifth consecutive record, while the Nasdaq added 0.49 percent.
Europe’s major stocks posted impressive results, with Frankfurt’s main index hitting another record level and London enjoying its most robust performance in more than five years.
London was 0.40 percent higher at 6,583.48 points, its strongest since November 1, 2007. Frankfurt’s DAX reached 8,249.71 points, beating the previous level set on Tuesday with a gain of 0.83 percent.
The gains came after provisional seasonally adjusted figures showed industrial production in Europe’s largest economy rose by 1.2 percent in March compared with the previous month.
On the forex market, the yen was firmer against the dollar in Asia, with few fresh leads before a two-day Group of Seven meeting of finance chiefs in Britain starting Friday.
The dollar eased to 98.77 yen from 99.01 yen. The euro fetched $1.3171 and 130.14 yen against $1.3156 and 130.35 yen in US trade on Wednesday.
Oil was down on profit-taking with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, shedding 62 cents to $96.00 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for June delivery dropping 75 cents to $103.59.
Gold was at $1,472 an ounce at 1030 GMT compared with $1,453.90 late Tuesday.
In other markets:
— Taipei rose 0.23 percent, or 18.8 points, to 8,285.89.
TSMC was 0.44 percent higher at Tw$115.0 while Acer fell 1.41 percent to Tw$24.5.
— Wellington was flat, losing 0.9 points, to 4,639.33.
Fletcher Building rose 0.5 percent to NZ$8.47 and Contact Energy slid 0.2 percent to NZ$5.60.
— Manila was 0.18 percent, or 13.13 points, higher at 7,194.43.
Metropolitan Bank added 0.31 percent to 127.60 pesos while Philippine Long Distance Telephone rose 0.26 percent to 3,116 pesos.
— Singapore rose 0.58 percent, or 19.76 points, to close at 3,432.78.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation added 0.64 percent to Sg$11.08 and oil-rig maker Keppel Corp. gained 1.14 percent to Sg$10.66.
— Kuala Lumpur fell 0.45 percent, or 7.93 points, to 1,766.07.
CIMB lost 3.0 percent to 8.31 ringgit. Maybank slipped 1.8 percent to 9.98.
— Bangkok added 0.43 percent, or 6.97 points, to 1,621.12.
— Telecoms company Advance Info Service rose 3.21 percent to 289 baht and department store operator Central Pattana jumped 4.19 percent to 56 baht.
— Mumbai slid 0.26 percent, or 51.14 points, to 19,939.04.
Mining giant Vedanta Group’s local arm Sterlite fell 2.28 percent to 96.55 rupees while Reliance Industries fell 1.33 percent to 818.10 rupees.
— Jakarta was closed for a public holiday.—Peter Hutchison
