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Asian Markets Mixed As Traders Look Ahead To Fed Policy(dpa-AFX International Compact Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are turning in a mixed performance on Monday with investors looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy review, due later this week. Slightly easing worries about eurozone banking industry with none of Europe's top banks failing the stress test is aiding sentiment. However, buying interest is somewhat subdued in most of the markets in the region, amid uncertainty about the near term outlook. The Australian market is trading notably higher, with bank stocks posting solid gains on hopes of strong quarterly results. Industrial, information technology, property trusts, energy and consumer discretionary stocks are also moving up. Miners are weak on lower iron ore prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is up 33.6 points or 0.6 percent at 5,445.8. The broader All Ordinaries index is at 5,430.0, up 30.7 points or 0.6 percent from previous close. In the banking space, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac (WBK) are up 0.7 to 1 percent. Bendigo & Bank and Bank of Queensland are advancing 0.7 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Among top miners, Rio Tinto (RIO) is down 0.6 percent, Newcrest Mining is declining 2.5 percent and Fortescue Metals is down nearly 3 percent, while BHP Billiton (BHP) is moving up 0.4 percent. In the oil sector, Santos, Oil Search and Origin Energy are moving up 0.6 to 1 percent and Caltex Australia is adding 1.5 percent, while Woodside Petroleum is flat. Qantas Airways is rising 4 percent. ResMed Inc. (RMD) is moving up 2.4 percent, while AMP and Westfield Corporation are gaining nearly 2 percent. Challenger, Asciano, Ramsay Healthcare, Scentre Group, Sonic Healthcare, Transpacific Industries, Myer Holdings and Aristorcat Leisure are up 1.4 to 1.8 percent. Shares of CSL Limited are advancing 1.2 percent following an announcement from the company that it would buy Novartis' global influenza vaccine business for A$297.54 million. Aurizon Holdings Limited shares are up 0.4 percent after the company re-affirmed its full year guidance for iron ore and coal volumes. Meanwhile, Alumina (AWC) is declining 2 percent. Sims Metal Management, Duluxgroup, Iluka Resources and Metcash are lower by 1.4 to 1.6 percent. In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened higher against the U.S. dollar. In early trades, the local unit was quoting at US$0.8809, up from Friday's close of US$0.8765. The Japanese market moved up, with Friday's positive close on Wall Street lifting sentiment. Easing worries about the eurozone banking industry, with none of Europe's top banks failing the stress test, also contribute to the positive mood in the market. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 57.3 points or 0.4 percent at 15,348.9 at the end of the morning session, after have surged to 15,414.9 earlier. Tokyo Electric Power rose 8 percent on reports that the company's pre-tax profit almost tripled. Mitsui Chemicals Inc. gained 3.4 percent. Keisei Electric Railway, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Nissan Chemical Industries, Chubu Electric Power, Ube Industries, Fujifilm Holdings Corp., Obayashi Corp., Kubota Corp. and Teijin were up 2 to 3 percent at the break. Fuji Electric, GS Yuasa Corp., Nippon Soda, NEC Corp., Oki Electric Industry, J Front Retailing, Asahi Kasei Corp., Tobu Railway, Shionogi & Co., KDDI Corp., Mitsui & Co., Showa Denko KK, Aozora Bank, Ricoh Co., Takashimaya Co., Marubeni Corp., NH Foods, Kobe Steel, Fujitsu and Citizen Holdings gained 1 to 2 percent. Among the losers, Sharp Corp. declined nearly 3 percent on a likely 10 percent drop in the company's April-September operating profit. Fanuc Corp. lost 3.75 percent and Hitachi Zosen declined 2.8 percent. Nikon Corp., Toho Zinc, Pioneer Corp., Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. and Mitsubishi Motors lost 0.7 to 2 percent. In economic news, corporate service prices in Japan were up 3.5 percent on year in September, the Bank of Japan said on Monday - in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month. On a monthly basis, prices added 0.1 percent after dipping 0.2 percent in August. Among the individual components, prices were up for transportation and postal activities, and down for advertising services. For the third quarter, prices were up 3.5 percent on year and were unchanged on quarter. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 108 yen range in early deals in Tokyo, after closing at 108.23 yen on Friday. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea is notably higher. Malaysia and Taiwan are up marginally. Hong Kong and Shanghai are notably lower and Indonesia is down with a modest loss, while Singapore is flat. The New Zealand market is closed for Labor Day holiday. On Wall Street, stocks ended notably higher on Friday, with traders reacting positively to earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT) and Procter & Gamble (PG) and to a report from the Commerce Department that showed U.S. new home sales to have ticked higher in September. The major averages ended the session near their best levels of the day, with the Nasdaq settling at a near one-month high. The Dow climbed 127.5 points or 0.8 percent to 16,805.4, the Nasdaq advanced 30.9 points or 0.7 percent to 4,483.7 and the S&P 500 rose 13.8 points or 0.7 percent to 1,964.6. Major European markets closed weak on Friday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index declined 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index both ended lower by 0.7 percent. U.S. crude oil ended sharply lower on Friday, on demand growth concerns after news of strong supply from the Middle East, with markets discounting reports that Saudi Arabia has cut its crude output. Crude oil futures for December delivery ended down $1.08 or 1.3 percent at $81.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX |