Japanese Stock Futures, Australian Shares Rise on U.S., Greece
February 16, 2012, 7:04 PM ESTBy Yoshiaki Nohara
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stock futures and Australian equities rose after U.S. economic reports beat estimates and optimism increased that Greece will get a second debt bailout, boosting demand for riskier assets.
American depositary receipts of Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-largest carmaker by market value that generates 44 percent of its revenue in North America, rose 1.5 percent from the closing share price in Tokyo. ADRs of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-biggest lender by market value, gained 2.9 percent. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Australia’s No. 3 lender, jumped 1.8 percent after reporting a 4.1 percent increase in underlying profit in the first quarter.
Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in March closed at 9,370 in Chicago yesterday, up from 9,230 in Osaka, Japan. They were bid in the pre-market at 9,360 in Osaka at 8:05 a.m. local time. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained rose 0.5 percent today. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.5 percent in Wellington.
“It’s a distinct improvement from the fourth quarter last year from the perspective of investor confidence and risk appetite,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1 billion at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney. “The European news flow still seems to be determining the direction of the markets. So, when there’s a bit of relief from the European front, the markets can focus on fundamentals, which seem to be improving by the day.”
U.S. Data
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.1 percent today. The index advanced 1.1 percent in New York yesterday after reports showed Americans filed the fewest claims for jobless benefits since March 2008 and builders broke ground on more houses than expected. Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region expanded this month at the fastest pace in four months as orders and sales rose.
Stocks also advanced as three euro-area officials said the European Central Bank is swapping its Greek bonds for new ones to ensure it isn’t forced to take losses in a debt restructuring. European governments are mulling over cutting interest rates on emergency loans to Greece and using contributions from the ECB to plug a new financing gap in the second bailout program for Athens, two people familiar with the discussions said.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 10.5 percent this year through yesterday, compared with an 8 percent advance by the S&P 500 and an 8.1 percent increase by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 14.4 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13 times for the S&P 500 and 10.9 times for the Stoxx 600.
The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index of Chinese equities traded in the U.S. gained 1.5 percent to a six-month high of 109.09. The iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund, the biggest Chinese exchange-traded fund in the U.S., rose to a one-week high as China Mobile Ltd. and Cnooc Ltd. jumped on speculation of more monetary easing.
--Editor: John McCluskey
To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.
