Asian markets mostly higher despite US data
HONG KONG – Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday despite weaker-than-expected US economic data, slumping Japanese corporate earnings and continued uncertainty over Europe’s unresolved debt crisis.
After markets opened, China released data showing manufacturing activity continued to improve in January, results likely to soothe investor concerns about a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.
Sydney was off 0.22 percent in morning trade, Tokyo was 0.30 percent higher while Seoul was up 0.63 percent.
Hong Kong gained 0.64 percent with Shanghai reversing earlier losses to rise 0.26 percent.
Wall Street was mixed overnight after the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 61.1 in January from 64.8 a month earlier, showing a downturn in Americans’ hopes for an economic rebound.
The S&P-Case Shiller Index on home prices across the country fell for the fifth straight month in November, despite record-low mortgage interest rates that analysts hoped would help the sector rebound.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16 percent while the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq were both flat.
Investors have cheered a European Union agreement on stricter controls to maintain balanced budgets across the region, but continued wrangling over a Greek debt writedown has left the public debt crisis still unresolved.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has said he hoped to reach a deal with banks “in the coming days” after weeks of complex negotiations aimed at slashing 100 billion euros from the country’s 350-billion-euro debt mountain.
Without a deal, Athens could not tap a second bailout package, keeping alive worries that the country may default on its debt.
“As markets grow thick-skinned to the drawn-out (Greek debt) talks, they still have the potential to cause widespread damage,” Justin Harper, head of research at IG Markets in Singapore, said in a note to clients.
China said its official purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in January, up slightly from 50.3 in December, expanding for the second straight month.
A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding while a reading below 50 suggests a contraction.
Markets also reacted to weak Japanese corporate earnings, dented by the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster, a subsequent nuclear crisis and record flooding in Thailand that dented Japanese manufacturers’ supply chains.
Exporters have also been struggling with a high yen, which makes their products more expensive overseas and erodes repatriated profits from foreign operations.
On Tuesday, electronics giant Toshiba reported a 70 percent dive in nine-month earnings, while automaker Honda’s nine-month net profit slumped by almost three-quarters from the previous year.
Australian media stocks were broadly higher after Morgan Stanley bought Fairfax shares totalling 7.6 percent of the company in a raid that Dow Jones Newswires reported as having come from mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.
Fairfax shares soared nearly 10 percent on the news.
On currency markets, the euro bought $1.3074 and 99.60 yen in early Asian trade, compared with $1.3080 and 99.74 yen in New York late Tuesday.
The dollar stood at 76.18 yen from 76.24.
New York’s main oil contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in March, gained 23 cents to $98.71 per barrel and Brent North Sea crude for March settlement was up 44 cents at $111.42.
Gold was at $1,738.30 an ounce at 0235 GMT, against $1,736.70 in New York late Tuesday.
