|
Nikkei falls, HK rallies
|
 |
June 16, 1999: 4:48 a.m. ET
Tokyo sheds 72 points ahead of U.S. data, futures lift Hang Seng
|
LONDON LONDON (CNNfn) - Hong Kong's 220-point rally left Tokyo in the shade Wednesday, as Japanese blue chips closed almost half a percent lower with investors cautious ahead of key U.S. economic data.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended the session down 71.82 points, or 0.42 percent, at 17,210.18 after the index failed to make it above the year-high mark of 17,300 on the back of earlier optimism left over from last week's surprise 1.9 percent jump in first-quarter gross domestic product.
In contrast, the Hang Seng ended a strong session with a 219.71 point rise to 13,155.12, a gain of 1.7 percent, buoyed by strong interest in index heavyweights.
In Japan, investors were waiting for key U.S. consumer data due out later Wednesday, which is expected to further strengthen the argument for a hike in U.S. interest rates.
"The market is very quiet. Everyone is waiting on the consumer price index figures for May for the U.S.," said Dhia Bitar, senior institutional sales trader at Nomura Securities.
The tone of the monthly Bank of Japan report also dampened sentiment. "The economy has stopped deteriorating, but there are no clear movements towards recovery," the document stated.
The session's strongest gainers were steel and chemical stocks. Chemical maker Tosoh Corp. jumped 7.67 percent to close at 337 yen on the back of a recommendation upgrade by Warburg Dillon Read to "strong buy" from "hold".
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. ended 3.41 percent higher at 425 yen on the back of another Warburg upgrade, while Nippon Steel Corp. closed 2.8 percent higher at 294 yen.
In Hong Kong, the market was buoyant ahead of U.S. inflation data. Investors took their cue from a positive session on Wall Street overnight, where the key indices closed in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed up 31.66 points Tuesday at 10,594.99.
But futures-related buying appeared to be the main driver behind the strong session, which caught many traders by surprise. "The market is much stronger than I thought. I thought it would be a quiet day ahead of [U.S. data] tonight," said Franco Tong, institutional sales manager at Century City Securities.
Index heavyweights led the way, with Hang Seng Bank up 3.55 percent at HK$87.50, while Hutchison Whampoa jumped almost 3 percent to HK$69.50.
South Korean stocks recovered as the tension in the Yellow Sea eased, following a naval clash Tuesday between the South and North Korea. The Kospi index surged 25.81 points to end at 829.53, a jump of 3.21 percent, which more than erased losses from the previous session.
Elsewhere, Singapore's Straits Times index was just inside the black at 2,048.15, a gain of 1.48 points.
Sydney's All Ordinaries closed flat, up 1.3 points at 2,942.2, as gains in industrial stocks off-set weakness in the dominant resource sector, which made a strong showing Tuesday.
In Taiwan, the Weighted index jumped 99.02 points to close at 8,059.02, while Philippine blue chips edged ahead to end up 0.25 percent at 2,391.30.
Kuala Lumpur blue chips were in positive territory. The Composite index was up just over 1 percent at 787.80. Bangkok's Set index was up 0.77 percent at 512.53, while Jakarta's blue chips were just over 1 percent lower at 663.23.
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
