Asian stocks rose last week, as better-than-estimated company earnings and forecasts boosted confidence in global economic growth. Concerns over Europe’s debt crisis weighed on gains.
NEC Corp, Japan’s largest maker of personal computers, jumped 5.4 for the week in Tokyo after posting higher-than-forecast net income. Samsung Electronics Co climbed 2.3 percent in Seoul after reporting record-high profit. Esprit Holdings Ltd, which makes 85 percent of its revenue in Europe, tumbled 5.3 percent in Hong Kong. China Vanke Co (萬科), China’s biggest listed property developer, fell 1.6 percent in the southern city of Shenzhen as China took steps to cool its real-estate market.
“The global economy is picking up and corporate earnings are improving,” said Kiyoshi Ishigane, a strategist in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co, which oversees about US$64 billion. “Investors aren’t very, very bullish, but cautiously believe the market will remain resilient.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 0.4 percent to 125.86 this week, giving the gauge a third straight monthly gain, adding 0.6 percent last month.
The measure has climbed 10 percent from its low this year on Feb. 8 as better-than-estimated economic and earnings reports globally offset concern Greece will default on its debt.
Japan’s TOPIX index rose 0.9 percent this week as a surge in US new home sales boosted the earnings prospects for Japanese exporters. The market was closed on Thursday for a national holiday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.6 percent this week, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 1.5 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index sank 3.8 percent on concern the government’s steps to cool its property market will hurt lenders and developers.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index has rebounded from its low this year as corporate earnings and economic data signaled the global recovery is continuing. The gauge slid 2 percent on Wednesday after downgrades of credit ratings for Greece and Portugal spurred concern Europe’s debt crisis will spread. Shares in the index trade at 16 times estimated earnings, compared with 14.8 times for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in the US and about 12.5 times for the STOXX Europe 600 Index.
The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen may limit local families to owning two homes, while the eastern city of Qingdao may raise land taxes for luxury homes and non-residential developments to 2 percent from 1 percent, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday. Beijing was expected to introduce details for curbing the city’s property market, the newspaper reported.
“The market is worried China is over-tightening,” said Grace Tam, Hong Kong-based vice president of investment services at JPMorgan Asset Management Ltd, which manages about US$102 billion in Asia-Pacific assets. “The concern is that this could result in a worse-than-expected impact on China’s growth.”
Taiwanese share prices fell on Friday, with the TAIEX, the market’s key barometer, falling 49.8 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 8,004.25.
The local bourse opened at 8,116.39 and fluctuated between 7,999.28 and 8,163.94. Market turnover totaled NT$152.04 billion (US$4.85 billion).
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday said it disqualified a person from an entrance examination for using AI smart glasses to cheat, along with two others for making untruthful statements in their curriculum vitae. The three applicants were given null scores, Taiwan’s highest-ranked university said, calling on prospective students to be honest in the admissions process. NTU registrar Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said that the cheating applicant wore a hat and thick-rimmed glasses to the second written exam for medical school, claiming that they felt cold. Suspicions were aroused when the applicant stared oddly at the test for long stretches while steadily bringing the paper
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
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Heavy rain is expected to affect parts of Taiwan this week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday as a meteorologist said the active part of the annual plum rain season has started. A stationary plum rain front and southwesterly winds would bring unstable weather and abundant moisture to Taiwan from today for about a week, with the heaviest rainfall forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, the CWA said. The agency said western and northeastern Taiwan, and mountainous areas in the east and southeast, could expect showers or thunderstorms on those two days, with localized heavy rain possible. Other parts of
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