Asian shares rise on Greece hopes, Apple earnings
HONG KONG—Asian markets rose Wednesday after a strong earnings report from Apple and on hopes Greece will agree on a debt-reduction deal with creditors, although worries persisted over Europe’s ongoing fiscal woes.
Japanese exporters were helped by a weaker yen after the country posted its first annual trade deficit in more than three decades, while Australian inflation was flat in the last quarter of 2011, stoking hopes for a rate cut.
Tokyo rose 1.12 percent, or 98.36 points, to 8,883.69, Sydney was up 1.12 percent, or 47.1 points, at 4,271.3 and Seoul gained 0.12 percent, or 2.34 points, to 1,952.23.
Financial markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei remained closed on Wednesday for a public holiday.
Apple said late Tuesday its net profit more than doubled in October-December to a record $13.06 billion, driven by strong sales of iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers.
The news lifted tech stocks, lifting hopes for a bright earnings season.
The market was underpinned by hopes Greece will strike an agreement with creditors at this weekend’s European Union leaders’ summit, despite an overnight standoff on the troubled country’s debt-reduction talks.
“Without this agreement Greece will have little chance of avoiding a hard-default scenario,” Christopher Gore, a currency analyst at GO Markets in Melbourne, said in a note.
“Without a concrete deal in (Greece), a long-lasting stalemate situation will remain a stumbling block for markets,” he added.
The International Monetary Fund Tuesday downgraded its forecasts for global growth to 3.3 percent from September’s 4.0 percent tip and warned of a deeper downturn if Europe doesn’t take stronger action to stem its debt crisis.
Importers and foreign investors sold the yen Wednesday after Japan said, as expected, it had logged a calendar-year trade deficit of 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) in 2011, its first since 1980.
Japanese exports slumped due to the economic damage of the March quake-tsunami and the strong yen, while high fuel costs pushed up import bills.
Australian inflation, meanwhile, held steady in the fourth quarter, a lower-than-expected result that stoked hopes for an interest rate cut to boost the country’s slowing economy.
The Consumer Price Index was flat in the three months to December from the previous quarter, and 3.1 percent in 2011, official data showed, below analyst forecasts for a 0.2 percent and 3.3 percent rate respectively.
The Australian dollar had jumped from $1.0466 to US$1.0506 after the announcement.
Regional investors are also looking ahead to a two-day policy meeting of the Federal Reserve that wraps up Wednesday, with its Open Market Committee expected to keep ultra-low interest rates unchanged.
Wall Street was mixed with the Dow dropping 0.26 percent, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite edging up 0.09 percent and the broad-based S&P 500 losing 0.10 percent.
On currency markets, the euro was at $1.2989 and 101.40 yen, from $1.3030 and 101.25 yen in New York.
The dollar stood at 78.08 yen, up from 77.71 yen in New York Tuesday.
New York’s main oil contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in March, gained six cents to $99.01 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for March delivery was up 24 cents to $110.27.
Gold was at $1,660.65 an ounce at 1015 GMT, against $$1,675.20 late Tuesday.
In other markets:
— Singapore rose 1.48 percent, or 42.26 points, to 2,891.64.
Real estate developer CapitaLand gained 1.98 percent to Sg$2.58 and DBS Bank climbed 1.93 percent to Sg$13.24.
— Manila ended 0.93 percent, or 43.86 points, lower at 4,670.49.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. fell 3.21 percent to 2,776 pesos but Petron Corp. bucked the trend to rise 1.86 percent to 11.58 pesos.
— Wellington closed 0.37 percent, or 11.94 points, higher at 3,280.10.
Fletcher Building added 1.76 percent to NZ$6.37, Telecom jumped 2.88 percent to NZ$2.15 and Contact Energy was 0.21 percent higher at NZ$4.77.
— Jakarta fell 0.78 percent, or 30.98 points, to 3,963.61.
Car maker Astra International declined 0.8 percent to 78,000 rupiah, while state-controlled gold miner Aneka Tambang was down 1.7 percent at 1,730 rupiah.
— Kuala Lumpur slipped 0.19 percent, or 2.90 points, to 1,519.76.
CIMB bank Group slid 1.7 percent to 6.99 ringgit as the chemical arm of state oil company Petronas slipped 1.2 percent to 6.60 ringgit while gaming giant Genting Malaysia climbed 1.3 percent to 3.90 ringgit.
— Bangkok edged down 0.67 percent, or 7.07 points, to 1,056.01.
— Mumbai rose 0.48 percent, or 81.41 points, to 17,077.18.
The world’s largest coal miner Coal India rose 3.90 percent to 342 rupees while leading vehicle maker Tata Motors rose 3.42 percent to 230.45.
