Global Economic Data Pushing The Markets Up

Asian markets closed mixed today but mostly up by adding further gains on top of yesterday’s gain. Tokyo and Australia both added further gains on the back of better than anticipated data released in the US and in Europe. The manufacturing PMI data released in US showed there was an increase in the country’s manufacturing index and a similar situation was witnessed in the euro zone’s Purchasing Manager’s Index which soared to a 16 month high.

However, mainland China failed to convince investors because the Chinese manufacturing data which was released yesterday was missing export orders, import and inventories of finished goods. There was no explanation for these holes, Bloomberg reported

The Nikkei Index was the best performing index during the session which closed with a gain of 1.78%. The index is up nearly 6.31% so far a month. The Shanghai index was the second best performer and closed with a gain of 0.59%. However, the Hang Seng index slipped in a negative territory and closed with a loss of -0.69%.
Banks and property developers came under pressure in Hong Kong due to the Chinese PMI data and shares of China Construction Bank Corp and China overseas Land & Investment Ltd both lost nearly -3.3% and -2%. Gold miners soared as the precious metal bounced strongly back up from its support and shares of Newcrest Mining Ltd increased by nearly 5.9%.

European stock markets are also trading higher during the early hours of trading. The economic data – Construction PMI reading for the UK came slightly lower than the expectations with the final reading of 51.0 while the forecast was for 51.3. However, the final reading was better than last month’s reading of 50.8 which confirmed that the country’s economy is improving.

Shares of Utility firm RWE tumbled by nearly -2.3% on the back of a downgrade from Morgan Stanley from overweight to equal weight. Insurance companies are also under pressure during the session after JP Morgan Cazenove confirmed that they are expecting nearly a 10% decline in natural catastrophe reinsurance and reduced the earnings per share estimates for major insurers during 2014. Munich Re and Swiss Re AG both fell nearly -0.8%.

DISCLOSURE & DISCLAIMER: The above is for informational purposes only and NOT to be construed as specific trading advice. responsibility for trade decisions is solely with the reader.

by Naeem Aslam