Tokyo surges to new high in mixed Asia markets

A pedestrian looks at a share prices board in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 index ended at a fresh seven-year high yesterday in the wake of last week’s surprise decision by the Bank of Japan to expand its asset-buying programme.

AFP

Tokyo

Asian markets were mixed yesterday following a soft lead from Wall Street, while Tokyo tacked on another huge set of gains after last week’s surprise monetary easing by the Bank of Japan.

The dollar eased a touch after racing above ¥114 for the first time in seven years, while the euro edged higher from the previous day’s two-year lows against the dollar.

Tokyo, which surged more than 4% at the open, ended 2.73% higher, adding 448.71 points to 16,862.47, while Sydney rose 0.24%, or 13.0 points, to close at 5,519.9. Shanghai finished marginally higher, adding 0.65 points to 2,430.68.

However, Seoul slipped 0.91%, or 17.78 points, to 1,935.19 and Hong Kong gave up 0.29%, or 70.31 points, to close at 23,845.66. In other markets, Bangkok closed up 0.38% or 5.97 points to 1,585.15; oil company Bangchak Petroleum added 2.94% to 35baht, while supermarket operator Big C Supercenter gained 3.32% to 249baht.

Kuala Lumpur lost 5.98 points, or 0.32%, to close at 1,847.36; British American Tobacco fell 2.19% to 67.86 ringgit and gaming firm Genting Malaysia lost 1.86% to end at 4.22 ringgit.

Jakarta closed down 0.29%, or 14.57 points, at 5070.94; cigarette producer Gudang Garam rose 4.75% to 60,700 rupiah, while state miner Aneka Tambang lost 0.53% to 940 rupiah.

Singapore was down 0.28%, or 9.27 points, to 3,281.57; real estate developer Capitaland fell 0.31% to Sg$3.18, and oil rig maker Keppel Corp eased 0.11% to Sg$9.53. Taipei fell 0.17%, or 15.68 points, to 8,989.18; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co added 0.76% to Tw$132.0 while Hon Hai Precision Industry was 0.61% lower at Tw$97.5.

Wellington ended flat, edging up 5.04 points to 5,423.26; Fletcher Building gained 0.58% to NZ$8.64 and Warehouse Group put on 1.60% to NZ$3.18.

Manila ended down 1.24%, or 90.84 points, at 7,222.01; Philippine Long Distance Telephone fell 3.49% to 3,148 pesos, Island Information and Technology lost 4.11% to 0.70 peso and Bank of the Philippine Islands shed 0.26% to 94.70 pesos. Mumbai was closed for a public holiday. Japanese traders returned from a long weekend for the first time since Friday’s central bank announcement that it would add up to ¥20tn ($176bn) to its asset-buying scheme in a bid to kick-start the economy and avert a recession. That sent the Nikkei almost 5% higher and the yen plunging against the dollar.

Yesterday, Tokyo’s markets resumed their buying spree.

“US markets’ positive reaction (Friday) to the BoJ’s announcement adds all the more fervour to suddenly bullish Japan stock enthusiasm,” Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikko Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The prospect of even more yen being pumped into the market sent it tumbling Friday, and this week extended those losses. In late trade yesterday the dollar sat at ¥113.63. In New York it ended at ¥113.99 after breaking ¥114 for the first time since late 2007.

The weaker yen boosted exporters, among them Sony, which surged 11.05% and Panasonic, which jumped almost 6%. On other forex trade the euro was at $1.2505, against $1.2484 in New York, where at one point it sank to $1.2449 in response to another soft batch of eurozone manufacturing data.