Asia Tech Shares Volatile
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By Ramthan Hussain
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian technology shares were volatile on Friday as Samsung Electronics fell despite forecast-beating earnings, but firm Japanese exporters lifted Japan's broader market to a 16-month high on a steady dollar.
"In general, high-tech earnings out of the U.S. have been encouraging, and with the dollar holding its ground, investors are putting money into some tech shares," said Masatoshi Sato, senior strategist at Mizuho Investors Securities.
The rise in U.S. tech stocks -- sparked by positive employment, manufacturing and inflation data -- gave a patchy boost to their Asian counterparts, as Fujitsu Ltd rose and Taiwan chipmaker TSMC dipped.
Samsung, the world's top memory chip maker and third-largest mobile phone maker, posted a 6.6 percent rise in third-quarter net profit on improved sales of its mainstay memory chips.
Shares in Samsung, Asia's most valuable electronics stock, earlier rose to a high of 466,000 won, but later dipped 0.6 percent, while the broader South Korea (news - web sites) market shed 0.64 percent.
Samsung shares have rallied 43 percent so far this year, beating a 21 percent gain in the main index.
"(Samsung's third-quarter earnings) figures were good, but actually the market had expected much more lately," said Boh Choi, a trader at Daewoo Securities.
Export-focused stocks such as Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites) gained over three percent after a source close to its talks with Samsung Electronics on an liquid crystal display joint-venture said they were progressing well and chances of a deal were high.
Mazda Motor Corp jumped 3.11 percent on a media report that it expected to post a first-half group operating profit of about 25 billion yen ($227.6 million), while Nissan Motor Co rose 2.4 percent on a brokerage ratings upgrade after Japan's third-largest auto maker posted strong earnings.
Japan's broader TOPIX index rose 0.58 percent to 1,097.16, having earlier hit a 16-month high of 1,100.80, while the Nikkei average gained 0.28 percent to 11,056.31.
"Nissan's report was also encouraging. It was a sign that corporations seem able to handle the strengthening yen," said Mizuho's Sato.
DOLLAR MIXED
The dollar stayed firm against the yen, supported by the fairly strong economic data. But traders said dollar gains were capped by uncertainties ahead of President Bush (news - web sites)'s arrival in Japan later on Friday for a meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, possibly to discuss Tokyo's policy of curbing yen gains to help boost exports,.
Bush is also due to meet Chinese leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (news - web sites) (APEC) forum summit in Bangkok next week, where he might bring up Beijing's pegging of its yuan currency to the dollar.
By 10:37 p.m. EDT the dollar edged up to 109.88/89 yen against 109.83 yen in New York. But the dollar softened slightly on the euro to $1.1591 versus $1.1587.
On Wall Street, the tech-driven Nasdaq rose 0.57 percent to 1,950.14, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.32 percent, to 1,050.07. But the Dow eased 0.12 percent, to 9,791.72, on tepid forecasts from International Business Machines Corp. and construction equipment company Caterpillar Inc.
Taiwan stocks slipped on profit-taking in financial issues, while some tech issues such as CMC soared. Australian stocks shed 0.2 percent as gains in banks barely offset losses in miners and Singapore stocks were flat.
Oil prices extended losses after falling as much as 45 cents to the session low of $31.30 a barrel overnight after a larger-than-expected build in commercial crude stocks for last week. NYMEX November crude shed 14 cents at $31.40 in morning trade.
Gold was barely changed, watching currency markets ahead of Bush's trip. Spot gold was quoted at $371.65/2.15 an ounce at 9:42 p.m. EDT versus New York's $371.35/2.05. |
