Most Asian stocks took cues from their U.S. counterparts Thursday and
traded lower amid lingering concerns about global economic growth.
In Asian trading Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.40% on a volatile day for USD/JPY. The pair traded slightly lower after Japan’s Ministry of Finance said the country’s exports rose 1.1% last month, easily topping the 0.4% increase forecast by economists. Japanese exports dropped 2.9% in February. For the fiscal year ending in March, Japan showed a trade deficit of JPY8.17 trillion.
Still, the export number indicates Japan’s weaker yen policy is starting to pay dividends for exports in the world’s third-largest economy. Elsewhere, the Reuters Tankan survey for April showed sentiment improved among Japanese manufacturers this month, the fifth straight month that has happened.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng inched up 0.02% while the Shanghai Composite added 0.26%. Chinese stocks were among the region’s bright spots after the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that foreign direct investment into the world’s second-largest economy jumped 5.65% last month to USD12.4 billion.
Foreign direct investment in China in the first quarter rose 1.44% to USD29.9 billion, according to the data.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.6% as BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, slid more than 3%.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 dropped 0.26% after the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data showed the median price per hectare for rural land rose 11.3% to NZD22,317 per hectare in March from March 2012. The March reading was a 1.7% increase from February. Farm sales slightly eased.
South Korea’s Kospi was dragged lower by 0.27% amid weakness in technology shares a day after Apple, the largest U.S. tech stock by market value, briefly slipped below the mentally important USD400 per share level during Wednesday’s U.S. session.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.18% while S&P 500 futures inched up 0.07%.
In Asian trading Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.40% on a volatile day for USD/JPY. The pair traded slightly lower after Japan’s Ministry of Finance said the country’s exports rose 1.1% last month, easily topping the 0.4% increase forecast by economists. Japanese exports dropped 2.9% in February. For the fiscal year ending in March, Japan showed a trade deficit of JPY8.17 trillion.
Still, the export number indicates Japan’s weaker yen policy is starting to pay dividends for exports in the world’s third-largest economy. Elsewhere, the Reuters Tankan survey for April showed sentiment improved among Japanese manufacturers this month, the fifth straight month that has happened.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng inched up 0.02% while the Shanghai Composite added 0.26%. Chinese stocks were among the region’s bright spots after the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that foreign direct investment into the world’s second-largest economy jumped 5.65% last month to USD12.4 billion.
Foreign direct investment in China in the first quarter rose 1.44% to USD29.9 billion, according to the data.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.6% as BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, slid more than 3%.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 dropped 0.26% after the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data showed the median price per hectare for rural land rose 11.3% to NZD22,317 per hectare in March from March 2012. The March reading was a 1.7% increase from February. Farm sales slightly eased.
South Korea’s Kospi was dragged lower by 0.27% amid weakness in technology shares a day after Apple, the largest U.S. tech stock by market value, briefly slipped below the mentally important USD400 per share level during Wednesday’s U.S. session.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.18% while S&P 500 futures inched up 0.07%.
