RESOURCE STOCKS UP IN ASIA!
Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:48 PM ET
By Andrew Callus
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Energy, mining and steel stocks rode strong resource prices to lead Asian shares up on Monday, and the dollar hit a two-week high against the euro in anticipation of a more aggressive U.S. stance on interest rates.
With Tokyo markets closed for a holiday, an MSCI index of non-Japan shares was up 0.21 percent at 277.03, with energy and metals sub-indexes at the top of the leader board.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Singapore's Straits Times were flat.
Top world miners BHP and Rio Tinto climbed 1.1 percent and 0.4 percent respectively in Australia, while Chinese oil producer CNOOC climbed 0.6 percent in Hong Kong.
In South Korea, top fuel refiner SK Corp jumped 4.4 percent and steel maker Posco rose 1.4 percent.
Crude oil sat close to the record high of $57.60 a barrel reached last week on supply concerns, up 5 cents at $56.77.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo Rato said on Saturday the world would have to live with high oil prices for at least the next two years.
Gold fell to $438.25 from $439.35 in New York on Friday as the dollar strengthened, making the metal more expensive to buy in other currencies.
"The dollar is getting support from expectations of a change in Fed language," said David Simmonds, currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore.
NOT SO MEASURED
Markets have already priced in a quarter percentage point rise in U.S. interest rates this week after the U.S. Federal Reserve meets on Tuesday.
Attention is now on the possibility of a statement accompanying the rate decision suggesting the central bank may be willing to take more aggressive action in coming months by removing the word "measured" when it refers to rate increases.
The euro fell to $1.3256 before recovering by 9:25 p.m. EST to around $1.3266, down 0.34 percent from the New York close of $1.3311.
The dollar was trading at 104.90 yen stronger by 0.23 percent from Friday's New York close of 104.69.
Some tech stocks shrugged off the Nasdaq's fall to a 2005 low on Friday. Samsung Electronics climbed 0.3 percent, and Taiwan's electronics sub-index rose 0.75 percent, helping Taiwan's benchmark index to rise 0.54 percent.
But Singapore's Creative Technology fell 3.9 percent to a near 7-month low.
Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. was down 9 percent after sliding as much as 15.28 percent after it issued a profit warning on Friday.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 climbed 0.38 percent, helped by its heavyweight resource stocks. South Korea's KOSPI was up 0.39 percent.
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average ticked up 0.03 percent to 10,629.67 while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell below 2,000 points for the first time in 2005 to 1,999.98 before closing down 0.43 percent at 2007.79.
tinyurl.com |
