A man looks at an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo on Tuesday, May 19, 2015. Tokyo’s stock market hit a 15-year high Wednesday, May 20, as Seoul and Shanghai also rose, but Hong Kong and other Asian markets retreated after recent gains. AP PHOTO/EUGENE HOSHIKO
HONG KONG–Tokyo’s stock market hit a 15-year high Wednesday as Seoul and Shanghai also rose, but Hong Kong and other Asian markets retreated after recent gains.
The euro suffered fresh losses after a European Central Bank official said it would ramp up its massive bond-buying program, while Greece’s debt reform talks with its creditors continued to lumber along.
Tokyo rose 0.85 percent, or 170.18 points, to 20,196.56–its highest since April 2000–although car parts maker Takata plunged after a recall of US cars fitted with the firm’s airbags doubled to 34 million.
Seoul was up 0.88 percent, closing 18.69 points higher at 2,139.54, and Shanghai gained 0.65 percent, or 28.74 points, to 4,446.29.
However Sydney ended marginally lower, giving up 5.2 points to 5,610.3, and Hong Kong lost 0.39 percent, or 108.49 points, to end at 27,585.05.
There were also losses in Wellington and Taipei.
Official Japanese data showed the economy grew 0.6 percent in the first three months of the year, after limping out of recession in the previous quarter. The figure was better than the revised 0.3 percent expansion in October-December and beat the market median forecast of a 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter increase.
“The January-March GDP growth data were good… and buoyed sentiment,” said Takuya Takahashi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
“Corporate earnings for the fiscal year to March were (also) generally good and many companies took measures to return surplus to shareholders,” he added, referring to share buy-backs and dividend increases.
Yen weakens
Even though the data reduced the likelihood the Bank of Japan would further loosen monetary policy, the yen weakened against the dollar as upbeat US figures supported the greenback.
The dollar bought 121.03 yen Wednesday, compared with 120.68 yen in New York and well above 119.94 yen in Tokyo earlier Tuesday.
US housing starts in April climbed 20.2 percent to their highest level since November 2007, while there was a 10.1 percent jump in home building permits. The report seemed to indicate that the economy’s abysmal first quarter was largely related to severe winter weather.
On Wall Street Tuesday the Dow edged up 0.07 percent to an all-time high for the second day in a row but the S&P 500 slipped 0.06 percent, ending a three-day streak of record closures. The Nasdaq dropped 0.17 percent.
Traders were now awaiting the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s April 28-29 policy meeting later Wednesday, looking for clues about its plan for lifting interest rates from record lows.
The euro eased to $1.1079 and 134.11 yen in Tokyo from $1.1149 and 134.54 yen in US trade after the ECB official said it would increase its asset purchases in May and June to offset an expected financial market slowdown later in the year.
In Tokyo, Takata took another heavy blow, plunging 10.2 percent after the announcement of a recall of US cars using its airbags, which have been linked to at least five deaths. The firm’s shares have lost more than half their value since last year.
The announcement–covering Honda, Toyota, General Motors, BMW and Ford, among others–comes on top of millions of other recalls worldwide.
Oil prices rebounded following sharp losses in the previous session owing to oversupply worries and a stronger dollar. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July climbed 65 cents to $58.64 while Brent crude for July delivery gained 81 cents to $64.83.
Gold fetched $1,208.82 compared with $1,220.91 late Tuesday.
In other markets:
— Taipei fell 0.32 percent, or 31.46 points, to 9,685.31.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was unchanged at Tw$146.5, while Hon Hai Precision Industry was 0.91 percent lower at Tw$97.5.
— Wellington edged down 1.30 points at 5,775.79.
Fletcher Building fell 0.23 percent to NZ$8.72 and Air New Zealand rose 0.68 percent to NZ$2.95.
— Manila closed up 0.13 percent, or 10.62 points, at 7,881.93.
GT Capital Holdings was up 1.05 percent at 1,445 pesos but BDO Unibank shed 0.26 percent to 116.40 pesos and SM Prime Holdings eased 0.70 percent to 19.80 pesos.
— Bangkok closed down a slim 0.38 percent, or 5.85 points, at 1,520.11
Telecoms operator AIS gained 1.69 percent to 233 baht while Bumrungrad Hospital, a popular destination for health tourism, jumped 4.97 percent to 190 baht
— Malaysia’s main share index gained 0.02 percent, or 0.39 points, to close the day on 1,810.11.
Public Bank went up 0.21 percent to 19.22 ringgit, RHB Capital fell 0.26 to 7.63 ringgit. AMMB Holdings rose 0.47 percent to close at 6.42 ringgit.
— Singapore fell 0.42 percent, or 14.36 points, to 3,439.68.
Singapore Telecom declined 1.62 percent to Sg$4.24 while investment holding firm Ezion fell 5.31 percent to Sg$1.07.
— Mumbai rose 0.69 percent, or 191.68 points, to end at 27,837.21.
Housing Development Finance Corp. rose 2.11 percent to 1,267.30 rupees, while motorbike maker Bajaj Auto fell 2.22 percent to 2,150.50 rupees.
— Jakarta ended up 0.44 percent, or 23.38 points, at 5,292.75
Private lender Bank Central Asia rose 1.65 percent to finish at 13,875 rupiah, while retailer Ace Hardware slipped 2.13 percent to 690 rupiah.