Most Asian markets clinched gains Monday, with copper miners boosting Australian shares after China's Minmetals Resources Ltd. launched a takeover offer for Equinox Minerals Ltd., while Japanese stocks were supported by a weakened yen.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished 0.1% higher at 9718.89 after a choppy trading session. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.5% to 4886.8, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.5% to 24150.58 and India's Sensex rose 1.3% at 19701.73.
Markets in China and Taiwan were closed for public holidays.
Stocks of Japanese exporters struggled to hang on to gains during the session. Caution about how the March 11 natural disasters would affect corporate earnings tempered market sentiment despite the earlier yen's fall against the dollar and the euro, and upbeat U.S. jobs data for March.
"It's difficult for investors to be optimistic enough to test shares higher solely on a weaker yen since there is uncertainty about corporate profits with the (Fukushima) nuclear-power plant problems likely to drag on for some time," said Yutaka Yoshii, general manager at Mito Securities.
Canon Inc. ended unchanged and Toyota Motor Corp. fell 0.5%, with both finishing well off the day's highs.
But Nikon Corp. added 0.5% and Mazda Motor Corp. rose 1.1% as the U.S. dollar hovered around the Y84 level.
Also offering support to the market, Fast Retailing Co. jumped 3.4% on a Credit Suisse upgrade to outperform from neutral.
IHI Corp. climbed 4.0% after the company signed a marketing deal with Sweden's Atlas Copco AB, while Nippon Electric Glass Co. fell 2.2% on a Deutsche Securities downgrade to hold.
The broad regional advance was underpinned by the stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data and gains on Wall Street Friday.
More recently, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up six points in screen trade, while some analysts saying investors were now focusing on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy moves in the short term.
"Although the next U.S. monetary-policy meeting is a few weeks away, with the end of QE2 in June fast approaching, markets are beginning to more seriously consider the Fed's next move," ANZ Bank said in a note to clients. "One thing seems certain, and that's that the excess liquidity created by almost infinitely loose monetary policy will not last forever."
The Australian stock market was supported by merger-and-acquisition activity in the copper- mining space.
Shares of Equinox soared 29% to A$7.35 after China's Minmetals launched a C$7.00 (A$6.98-a-share) takeover bid for the copper miner. In Hong Kong trading, shares of Minmetals rose 2.4%.
The news also bolstered other copper miners, with Oz Minerals Ltd. climbing 2.2% and PanAust Ltd. surging 8.4%.
"PanAust is seen as the market's most likely takeover target in the copper sector after Equinox," said IG Markets institutional dealer Chris Weston.
Some regional energy shares also got a lift from rising crude-oil prices. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. rose 0.7% and Santos Ltd. climbed 0.6% in Sydney.
Cnooc Ltd. added 1.7% in Hong Kong. And Cairn India Ltd. rose 4.2% in Mumbai afternoon trade.
May Nymex crude-oil futures were up 42 cents at $108.36 a barrel, as Libyan rebels skirmished with government forces around the strategic oil town of Brega and the U.S. agreed to a NATO request to extend Libya air strikes for 24 hours.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing was the best performing blue chip in Hong Kong, rising 5.3%. HK Exchanges is generally seen as a proxy for the Hong Kong market and tends to rise ahead of any index rally.
In Seoul, oil-refining stocks fell sharply on news that SK Energy Co. will cut its gasoline and diesel prices following recent pressure from the government to help curb inflation. Tong Yang Securities analyst Hwang Kyu-won said he expects the price-cut news to hurt oil refiners for "quite a while."
Their fall weighed the Kospi in Seoul, dragging the benchmark 0.2% lower to 2,115.87. Shares of SK Innovation Co. dropped 10%, while S-Oil Corp. slid 5.6%.
Elsewhere in the region, New Zealand's NZX 50 gained 0.2%, Philippine stocks rose 1.9%, Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.7%, Indonesian shares fell 0.2% and Thailand's SET was up 1.3%.
In foreign-exchange trade, the euro took a breather after recent rises amid expectations of a possible rate hike by the European Central Bank at its policy meeting this week.
The single currency was recently fetching $1.4206, compared with $1.4233 late Friday in New York, and Y119.42, compared with Y119.51. The euro was quoted as high as Y120.09 on Monday, the highest since May 10 last year.
"An ECB rate hike of (0.25 percentage point) on Thursday will come as no surprise, but for the euro much will depend on the press statement," said Credit Agricole in note to clients. "If the ECB merely validates market expectations of around 75 basis points of policy rate hikes this year, the euro will struggle to rally."
The dollar was at Y84.06 recently, compared with Y84.04 late Friday, when it hit a six-month high of Y84.73.
Japanese government bonds traded cautiously ahead of a 10-year JGB tender Tuesday. The lead futures contract was up 0.04 at 139.23 points, while the 10-year cash JGB yield rose 1.5 basis points to 1.290%.
Spot gold was at $1,431.80 a troy ounce, up $2.90 from its New York settlement Friday.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished 0.1% higher at 9718.89 after a choppy trading session. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.5% to 4886.8, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.5% to 24150.58 and India's Sensex rose 1.3% at 19701.73.
Markets in China and Taiwan were closed for public holidays.
Stocks of Japanese exporters struggled to hang on to gains during the session. Caution about how the March 11 natural disasters would affect corporate earnings tempered market sentiment despite the earlier yen's fall against the dollar and the euro, and upbeat U.S. jobs data for March.
"It's difficult for investors to be optimistic enough to test shares higher solely on a weaker yen since there is uncertainty about corporate profits with the (Fukushima) nuclear-power plant problems likely to drag on for some time," said Yutaka Yoshii, general manager at Mito Securities.
Canon Inc. ended unchanged and Toyota Motor Corp. fell 0.5%, with both finishing well off the day's highs.
But Nikon Corp. added 0.5% and Mazda Motor Corp. rose 1.1% as the U.S. dollar hovered around the Y84 level.
Also offering support to the market, Fast Retailing Co. jumped 3.4% on a Credit Suisse upgrade to outperform from neutral.
IHI Corp. climbed 4.0% after the company signed a marketing deal with Sweden's Atlas Copco AB, while Nippon Electric Glass Co. fell 2.2% on a Deutsche Securities downgrade to hold.
The broad regional advance was underpinned by the stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data and gains on Wall Street Friday.
More recently, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up six points in screen trade, while some analysts saying investors were now focusing on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy moves in the short term.
"Although the next U.S. monetary-policy meeting is a few weeks away, with the end of QE2 in June fast approaching, markets are beginning to more seriously consider the Fed's next move," ANZ Bank said in a note to clients. "One thing seems certain, and that's that the excess liquidity created by almost infinitely loose monetary policy will not last forever."
The Australian stock market was supported by merger-and-acquisition activity in the copper- mining space.
Shares of Equinox soared 29% to A$7.35 after China's Minmetals launched a C$7.00 (A$6.98-a-share) takeover bid for the copper miner. In Hong Kong trading, shares of Minmetals rose 2.4%.
The news also bolstered other copper miners, with Oz Minerals Ltd. climbing 2.2% and PanAust Ltd. surging 8.4%.
"PanAust is seen as the market's most likely takeover target in the copper sector after Equinox," said IG Markets institutional dealer Chris Weston.
Some regional energy shares also got a lift from rising crude-oil prices. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. rose 0.7% and Santos Ltd. climbed 0.6% in Sydney.
Cnooc Ltd. added 1.7% in Hong Kong. And Cairn India Ltd. rose 4.2% in Mumbai afternoon trade.
May Nymex crude-oil futures were up 42 cents at $108.36 a barrel, as Libyan rebels skirmished with government forces around the strategic oil town of Brega and the U.S. agreed to a NATO request to extend Libya air strikes for 24 hours.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing was the best performing blue chip in Hong Kong, rising 5.3%. HK Exchanges is generally seen as a proxy for the Hong Kong market and tends to rise ahead of any index rally.
In Seoul, oil-refining stocks fell sharply on news that SK Energy Co. will cut its gasoline and diesel prices following recent pressure from the government to help curb inflation. Tong Yang Securities analyst Hwang Kyu-won said he expects the price-cut news to hurt oil refiners for "quite a while."
Their fall weighed the Kospi in Seoul, dragging the benchmark 0.2% lower to 2,115.87. Shares of SK Innovation Co. dropped 10%, while S-Oil Corp. slid 5.6%.
Elsewhere in the region, New Zealand's NZX 50 gained 0.2%, Philippine stocks rose 1.9%, Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.7%, Indonesian shares fell 0.2% and Thailand's SET was up 1.3%.
In foreign-exchange trade, the euro took a breather after recent rises amid expectations of a possible rate hike by the European Central Bank at its policy meeting this week.
The single currency was recently fetching $1.4206, compared with $1.4233 late Friday in New York, and Y119.42, compared with Y119.51. The euro was quoted as high as Y120.09 on Monday, the highest since May 10 last year.
"An ECB rate hike of (0.25 percentage point) on Thursday will come as no surprise, but for the euro much will depend on the press statement," said Credit Agricole in note to clients. "If the ECB merely validates market expectations of around 75 basis points of policy rate hikes this year, the euro will struggle to rally."
The dollar was at Y84.06 recently, compared with Y84.04 late Friday, when it hit a six-month high of Y84.73.
Japanese government bonds traded cautiously ahead of a 10-year JGB tender Tuesday. The lead futures contract was up 0.04 at 139.23 points, while the 10-year cash JGB yield rose 1.5 basis points to 1.290%.
Spot gold was at $1,431.80 a troy ounce, up $2.90 from its New York settlement Friday.
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