That stock News

BANGKOK – Asian stock markets were higher Thursday as European officials sought a way to fix the region's debt crisis and China appeared poised to cool rising food costs with price controls rather than an interest rate hike that could slow growth.

Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.7 percent to 9,977.20 as shares of insurance companies led gains. The sector benefited from a Nikkei report that said MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc. will sell a total of 300 billion yen ($3.6 billion) of its shares in other companies.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.4 percent to 23,530.05 as financials advanced. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8 percent to 2,860.41 and South Korea's Kospi added 1.3 percent to 1,921.41.

China's government said Wednesday it will subsidize food for poor families and could introduce price controls to dampen double-digit increases in the cost of staples. That relieved some of the anxiety in global markets that China would raise interest rates to control inflation, potentially slowing its rapid economic growth.

Kwong Man Bun, chief operating officer at KGI Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, said the strengthening of the dollar against the yen was also helping lift markets in Asia. Investors in the region like a strong dollar, because exporters in Japan and other Asian countries can sell their products more cheaply.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.3 percent to 4,640.2 while markets in Taiwan and the Philippines also gained. Singapore's benchmark fell.

In New York on Wednesday, stocks ended mixed as concerns that Ireland will need outside help to repay its debts were coupled with a steep drop in housing construction in the U.S.

Britain, which is not part of the 16-nation bloc that uses the euro, offered Wednesday to provide additional support to Ireland beyond what it gets from the European Union or the International Monetary Fund. That eased concerns that Ireland would be unable to pay the cost of rescuing the banks at the center of the country's financial crisis.

"Investors expect the debt crisis can be resolved," said Kwong.

In the U.S., construction of new homes fell 11.7 percent in October, the Commerce Department reported.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.62, or 0.1 percent, to 11,007.88. The broader S&P 500 rose 0.25, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,178.59, and the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index rose 6.17, or 0.3 percent, to 2,476.01.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 83.20 yen from 83.16 yen late Wednesday in New York after earlier this month trading near 80 yen. The euro rose to $1.3591 from $1.3552.

Benchmark oil for December delivery was up 83 cents to $81.26 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.90 to settle at $80.44 on Wednesday.

View the original article here

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian stocks rebounded on Thursday after having suffered their biggest one-day fall in four months, while the yen held firm against a broadly weaker dollar, taking details of the Bank of Japan's stimulus plan in its stride.

European shares took their cue from Asia with London's FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) gaining 0.7 percent at the open and Germany's DAX (.GDAXI) climbing 0.5 percent. U.S. stock index futures were all up between 0.1 and 0.2 percent.

The BOJ said it would meet next week, bringing forward the November 15-16 policy meeting to speed up the launch of a 5 trillion yen ($61 billion) asset buying plan aimed at helping the economy cope with a strong yen.

It kept interest rates unchanged near zero as widely expected.

"What stands out is that the BOJ rescheduled its next meeting, bringing it forward, which suggests the central bank wants to make sure it can take action if needed after the FOMC," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute, referring to the U.S. central bank meeting on November 2-3.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 0.7 percent (.MIAPJ0000PUS), having slid nearly 2 percent on Wednesday to post its biggest one-day percentage fall since late June. Still, it remained close to a 28-month high hit last week.

Financial markets have been volatile this week as speculation intensifies over how much the Federal Reserve is likely to spend to pump up a faltering recovery and whether such new measures will be carried out swiftly or phased in over time.

Analysts expect choppy market action to persist in the lead up to next week's meeting.

Market participants have begun to scale back expectations of the size of any additional stimulus with The Wall Street Journal reporting on Wednesday that Fed officials wanted to avoid a "shock and awe" approach.

"I think the Fed is trying to prepare the market for incremental QE2 and this whole pre-announcement, in a way, is to cushion the impact if it comes out on November 3rd that it is only $100 billion rather than $1-$2 trillion," said V. Anantha-Nageshwaran, CIO of Julius Baer in Hong Kong.

Asian governments are worried about the impact this might have on their economy. South Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said on Thursday the government needs to guard against a potential asset bubble caused by excessive liquidity. Japan's Nikkei stock average (.N225), which was spared the selloff seen in the region on Tuesday, slipped 0.2 percent to end at a six-week low, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (.HSI) gained 0.3 percent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index (.AXJO) rose 0.8 percent.

Among the top performers, shares in Canon Inc (7751.T) rallied more than 3 percent after the world's largest maker of digital cameras posted strong quarterly results and raised its full-year outlook.

In Australia, upbeat earnings helped drive ANZ shares (ANZ.AX) up about 3 percent, while bourse operator ASX (ASX.AX) climbed 1.5 percent after two days of sharp losses due to uncertainty over Singapore Exchange's (SGXL.SI) $7.9 billion bid.

The MSCI's emerging market stock benchmark (.MSCIEF) rose 0.2 percent.

The selloff in commodities also halted with copper, which dropped more than $200 a metric ton on Tuesday, its steepest decline since late June, gaining $30 to $8,330 a metric ton.

U.S. light sweet crude oil was little changed at $82.00 per barrel, while spot gold was also steady near $1,326.00 an ounce.

DOLLAR SAGS

The U.S. dollar eased against a basket of six major currencies (.DXY) after two straight days of gains helped the index climb back into positive territory for 2010.

The euro rose to $1.3833 from $1.3764 late in New York, while the dollar eased to 81.42 yen from 81.69 yen, hovering not far from a record low of 79.75 yen.

The dollar's decline also coincided with a pullback in U.S. Treasury yields, which gained sharply in the past few sessions as the market scaled back expectations of the size of Fed's likely asset purchase program.

The U.S. 10-year yield was last at 2.69 percent, down from a one-month high of 2.73 percent set on Wednesday.

"Overall, we still see the risk for the FOMC next week is going to be toward U.S. dollar strength once the dust settles," said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

"Much of the market is pretty much expecting $100 billion per month for the next six months or so. So we'll need to see asset purchases in excess of that in order to generate fresh U.S. dollar weakness."

(Additional reporting by Vikram Subhedar in Hong Kong; Editing by Nick Macfie)

View the original article here

Traders has also noted that Smith & Nephew is once more the focus of speculation, support after that UBS, said the company in its "watch list", arguing that Johnson & Johnson and or private owned equity Biomet may be interested in acquiring the giant of the doctor. Actions then to 17? to 568 p.

Overall, the FTSE 100 climbed points 25.04 to 5728.93 and FTSE 250 edged 5.65 10831.86 points.

Bus and rail companies peppered Board midrange leader in the global review of the dépenses.concessionnaires chased the highest shares after the Chancellor said rail and bus groups will be able to raise prices by 3pc more than inflation, which is much better than expected. Diligence closed to 17.6 205.1 p, approved updated 88% to ￡ 12.27 and FirstGroup increased 24.2 401?p.

Among the blue chips, autonomy increased 61% to ￡ 15.05 to some comments positive broker. Panmure Gordon, for example, updated the stock from "buy" to "hold".The broker analysts argued that the shares are worth purchase because promoting is one-piece gearmotors on broader economic recovery, it is potentially a new acquisition in the corner and two product launches new "imminent" expand the addressable market for the autonomy.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs, reiterated its "buy" rating on autonomy. "Key short-term catalyst is the announcement of a takeover, said Mohammed Moawalla, an analyst at Goldman Sachs.Il said: "autonomy has a solid track record as the arrival of trafficking and we would expect a similar to the previous one transaction acceleration Road book market".

Extraction of stocks was the leader board after having endured some heavy sales over the last two days.Xstrata has rebounded 42?p ￡ 12.91 while Rio Tinto added 108 p to ￡ 40.56.

Vodafone advanced 2.1 p 168,3 that Goldman Sachs from 2011 to 2013 per-share earnings forecast by 3pc and 4pc to weakness of sterling account.

Barclays donning 2? to 291.1 p. Wednesday, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods sellers told customers only after a meeting with the company, they left with a more positive view on the stock.

Nomura has reiterated its "buy" rating on GKN and raised its price target to 205 p.Les shares climbed 3.3 175?p.

International Power gained 7.2% 411.6 after that Royal Bank of Scotland raised his price target to 390 p 450 p.

Cobham improved 3.9 242.8 p as dealers noted that Goldman Sachs has put the company on its list of "conviction buy", arguing that it could carry out acquisitions or be swallowed by a rival.

On a less positive tack, BG Group was under pressure in the middle of the conversation that it met serious problems for Australia coal-bed methane projects.

Macquarie Group reported by Bloomberg reportedly said that the Australian Government can delay approval for coal bed methane projects proposed in Queensland after origin energy found traces of chemicals banned in exploration wells.BG Group has fallen from 10 p to ￡ 11.76.

Several stocks declined after negotiation ex-dividende.Smiths Group lost 31% to ￡ 12.19 and BAE Systems Hangar 14 349,9 percent as they exchanged without the right of their dividends.

Dealers chewed on the implications of Tuesday, defence spending review of BAE Systems.Running noble said: "SDR UK contains some negative (by BAE Systems) such as the Harrier departures for retirement and cancellation of Nimrod."

Babcock International rallied 9? in 573?p.Panmure Gordon analysts said: "" we believe that our thesis long-term Babcock remains intact, not bad that fears initially dépenses.Avec cuts significant downsizing confirmed among officials of the Department of Defense, we believe that this will lead to high levels of outsourcing Babcock should emerge as a key beneficiary.""

Ashtead towards more than 5.4% 121.4 continued solid results for the third quarter of United Rentals.Alex Hugh, UBS, said analyst as the figures show "rental penetration accelerating rental suggesting firms can grow even when the non-residential construction is not.

However, Kesa fell 3.7 percent 155.8 after UBS downgraded to "neutral" stock from "buy".the actions have been reinforced by recent bid speculation with UBS, pointing out that the stock has rallied 20pc month dernier.Best Buy and private equity companies were a tip as contenders possibles.Toutefois, Adam Cochrane, the UBS analyst said: "a take of" was unlikely.

Hansen Transmissions plunged 7.3 43 percent after the manufacturer of products used in wind generators and said revenues for the year cooling towers fall on 10pc.La society expected revenues grow between 5MC and 10pc.

Stobart group is 13?-143 p after it has reduced its income throughout the year forecast due to the reduction of expenditure by Network Rail and financing costs increased.

Jardine Lloyd Thompson then 16 597% in the middle of rumours, it can be taken target for Marsh & McLennan.Potins bid made for months, with Aon cited as another potential bidder tours.

However, it does not clear if the Jardine Matheson Holdings is a vendor disposé.Le Hong Kong-based conglomerate owns 30pc Jardine Lloyd Thompson, so any agreement would require its traders approbation.Certains believe that Jardine Matheson wants to sell.

View the original article here