Asian shares outside Japan rebounded this week as US economic reports showed signs of recovery in the world’s biggest economy, even as concern mounted that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is worsening.
Wharf Holdings Ltd (九龍倉集團) surged 9.8 percent in Hong Kong after underlying profit beat estimates. Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s biggest carmaker, slid 0.4 percent in Tokyo as the yen gained against the US dollar and euro. GS Yuasa Corp tumbled 9.2 percent after its batteries caught fire in a Mitsubishi Motors Corp factory and another melted in an electric car.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.9 percent to 135.56 this week, capping a 4.8 percent gain for the quarter. The measure’s third consecutive quarterly advance is its longest such winning streak since March 2010. The gauge rallied this year as improving economic data from the US and speculation that Japan will deploy more stimulus countered concern China will move to cool its property market.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index trades at 15 times average estimated earnings, compared with 14.2 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 12.6 for the STOXX Europe 600 Index, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Taiwan’s TAIEX posted a weekly gain of 1.6 percent after advancing 0.7 percent to 7,918.61 on Friday.
South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 2.9 percent, while the TOPIX, Japan’s broadest share gauge, slid 0.4 percent this week, and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.5 percent to cap its best back-to-back quarterly performance since 1972. China’s Shanghai Composite Index slumped 3.9 percent, as Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.8 percent, paring its first quarterly loss since June. The gauge dropped 1.6 percent this year.
Markets in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and India were closed on Friday for a holiday. Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia will reopen on Tuesday.
Stocks rose after residential real-estate prices increased in January by the most since June 2006, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index showed on March 26. Orders for durable goods climbed more than forecast last month, propelled by automobiles and a rebound in commercial aircraft, a US Department of Commerce report showed. The S&P 500 rose to a record, wiping out losses from the financial crisis.
Shares in Hong Kong gained this week during the busiest week for earnings, with about 240 companies reporting. About half of the firms on the Hang Seng Composite Index that reported earnings since Jan. 1 and for which Bloomberg has estimates, exceeded analysts’ forecasts, Bloomberg data show.
In other markets on Thursday:
Wellington rose 0.24 percent, or 10.70 points, to 4,422.75, from Wednesay.
Manila was closed.
Mumbai rose 0.70 percent, or 131.24 points, to 18,835.77 points.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six