Japanese, Australian Stock Futures Advance on U.S. Home Prices, Confidence
Japanese, Australian Stock Futures Climb on U.S. Home Data
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
Japanese and Australian stock futures rose as gains in U.S. home prices and consumer confidence eased concern the economic recovery will stall.
Japanese and Australian stock futures rose as gains in U.S. home prices and consumer confidence eased concern the economic recovery will stall. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
Japanese and Australian stock futures rose as gains in U.S. home prices and consumer confidence eased concern the economic recovery will stall.
American depositary receipts of Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s third-biggest bank by market value, rose 0.5 percent from the closing share price in Tokyo. Canon Inc., a camera maker that gets more than 80 percent of its revenue overseas, rose 0.5 percent. ADRs of BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, rose 0.5 percent in Sydney even after commodity prices dropped.
“Japanese stocks have been sold too much, so their downside should be limited,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. “However, gains in shares will be curbed by concern over the stronger yen and risks in the faltering U.S. economy.”
Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in September closed at 8,830 in Chicago yesterday, compared with 8,795 in Singapore. They were bid in the pre-market at 8,840 in Osaka, Japan, at 8:05 a.m. local time. Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.9 percent today. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.4 percent in Wellington.
The Japanese benchmark stock gauges yesterday fell to their lowest since April 2009.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.4 percent today. In New York, the index yesterday rose less than 0.1 percent, reversing a 0.8 percent loss, as regulators approved a Chinese investment in Morgan Stanley and gains in home prices and consumer confidence tempered concern the economy is faltering.
S&P Futures
Morgan Stanley jumped 1.1 percent as the Federal Reserve approved China Investment Corp.’s plan to buy as much as 10 percent of the company.
Consumer confidence climbed more than forecast in August as Americans turned less pessimistic about the outlook for jobs, easing concern households will retrench. The Conference Board’s confidence index rose to 53.5 from a five-month low of 51 in July, according a report yesterday from the New York-based research group.
The yen depreciated to as low as 106.83 against the euro, compared with 106.44 at the close of stock trading in Tokyo yesterday, boosting income at Japanese companies when overseas revenue is converted into local currency. Against the dollar, Japan’s currency was little changed from 84.17 yesterday.
Crude oil for October delivery yesterday tumbled 3.7 percent in New York. The London Metal Exchange Index of six metals including copper and zinc declined 0.6 percent yesterday.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has fallen 9.7 percent from its high this year on April 15 on concern Europe’s debt crisis and China’s steps to curb property prices will slow global economic growth. Stocks in the index trade at 13.3 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 12.6 times for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 11.3 times for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.
To contact the reporters on this story: Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at nkuboyama@bloomberg.net; Kotaro Tsunetomi in Tokyo at ktsunetomi@bloomberg.net.
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