Asian markets up on US hopes, weak yen helps Tokyo

HONG KONG: Asian markets rose on Wednesday with traders confident the United States will avoid a fiscal cliff and Greece will get its much-needed bailout, while Tokyo was boosted by the weak yen.

The Japanese currency continued its fall against the dollar and the euro on expectations of further central bank easing, given added impetus by data showing Tokyo posted its worst October trade figures in more than 30 years.

Tokyo rose 0.96 per cent, Hong Kong added 0.66 per cent and Seoul was up 0.30 per cent but Sydney was flat. Shanghai was up 0.21 per cent.

Stocks have been buoyed this week by hopes for an agreement in Washington on avoiding the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to come into effect on January 1.

If they are allowed to come in they will likely tip the US into recession, a danger reiterated by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke on Tuesday.

Eyes are currently on Europe, where eurozone finance chiefs are holding an emergency meeting to decide whether to give Greece the next trance of much-needed bailout cash to help it avoid a default.

"Greece has delivered (on reform)," said Jean-Claude Juncker, who presides over the Eurogroup of finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the single currency. "(There are thus) good chances of an agreement."

The expectations of fresh cash for Greece lifted the euro against the yen, while it is also holding on to recent advances on the dollar.

The euro bought $1.2810 and 104.95 yen in early Asian trade, compared with $1.2818 and 104.70 yen in New York late Tuesday.

The dollar firmed to 81.93 yen from 81.67 yen in US trade and is sitting at seven-month highs.

Dealers continued to move out of the yen after the Bank of Japan held off further monetary easing on Tuesday but signalled fresh action could be in the pipeline after saying the economy remained weak.

The currency has weakened since last week, when the man likely to become prime minister after next month's general election said he would push for unlimited loosening monetary policy by the central bank.

There was more gloom for the Japanese economy on Wednesday as finance ministry data showed October's trade deficit nearly doubled to 549 billion yen ($6.7 billion) from a year ago, coming on top of weakening factory output.

On Wall Street, the three main indexes all ended flat on weak corporate news.

However, there was support from the Commerce Department, which said home construction rose again in October following September's strong surge, a further sign of recovery in the crucial housing market.

Housing starts rose 3.6 per cent from October, surprising analysts who had expected a fall after September's jump.

Oil prices climbed, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, rising 55 cents to $87.30 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for January delivery adding 63 cents to $110.46.

Gold was at $1,727.60 at 0230 GMT compared with $1,733.45 late Tuesday.

Asian markets up on US jobs data

HONG KONG - Asian markets rose Friday following another set of promising jobs data from the United States, while dealers were also upbeat ahead of the release of closely-watched Chinese economic figures.

Japanese shares, however, were hit by a plunge in telecom giant Softbank after it emerged it is eyeing a near $13 billion (S$15.9 billion) deal to buy Sprint Nextel of the United States, in what would be one of Japan's biggest ever overseas deals.

Tokyo was flat by the break, Hong Kong added 0.82 percent, Sydney gained 0.17 percent, Shanghai climbed 0.60 percent and Seoul rose 0.12 percent.

The gains come at the end of a week that raised new fears about the global economy, with the International Monetary Fund slashing its growth forecasts across the world, while Spain continues to refuse to ask for a bailout.

Hopes for the US economy were given another boost Thursday when the Labor Department said insurance benefits plunged unexpectedly last week to the lowest level since February 2008.

New jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, came in at 339,000 in the week to October 6, far below the previous week's 369,000 and the then-four-week average of 375,500.

Those figures come on top of data last week showing the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.8 percent in September.

However, on Wall Street the Dow fell 0.14 percent while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were both flat.

Eyes are now on China, which will release on Saturday its trade figures for September, with investors hoping for an improvement on recent months that have revealed tumbling exports and imports as the demand in key markets dries up.

Beijing will on Monday release inflation data, followed by crucial gross domestic product figures.

Traders are also hoping leaders will soon introduce a fresh round of stimulus as a once-in-a-decade leadership transition approaches next month.

In Tokyo, broad advances stoked by a weak yen were held back by a 16 percent slump in Softbank, the country's third biggest telecoms firm, after it said it was in talks to buy Sprint for $12.8 billion.

Kenji Shiomura, strategist at Daiwa Securities, said: "Investors were discouraged by the possibility that the company could be saddled with a heavy financial burden".

"Putting aside the point of whether the deal could be successful in the long run, the market is cautious."

On forex markets the euro benefited from increased risk sentiment. In early trade it bought $1.2939, compared to $1.2926 late Thursday in New York, while it was also up at 101.53 yen from 101.25 yen.
The dollar gained to 78.49 yen from 78.33 yen.

Oil prices were higher with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November rising 29 cents to $92.36 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for November advancing 10 cents to $115.81.

Gold was at $1,769.98 at 0325 GMT compared with $1,770.18 late on Thursday.