(RTTNews) - Asian markets are trading notably higher on Friday with an overnight surge on Wall Street on the back of some encouraging earnings reports prompting investors to go in for some buying across various sectors. Earnings reports from parts of Asia-Pacific region are also impressive with some of them beating forecasts by notable margins. Though all the markets in the region are trading firm, a few have pared early gains with investors choosing to tread cautiously ahead of more results.

The Australian market rallied higher on hectic buying in financials, consumer staples and technology stocks. Energy, materials and industrials stocks are exhibiting a mixed trend.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is trading at 4,860, up 47.2 points, or 1%, over its previous close, while the broader All Ordinaries index is up 41.2 points, or 0.9%, at 4860.

In the banking space, ANZ Bank is up 1.6%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia is gaining about 3% and Westpac Banking Corporation is trading stronger by over 2.5%, while National Australia Bank is up with a gain of 1.3%. Diversified financials stock Macquarie Group is up with a modest gain of 0.3%.

Among top miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are trading higher by 0.8% and 1% respectively, while Newcrest Mining is down by about 0.5%. Orica and Fortescue Metals are up 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively, while Lihir Gold is trading flat.

Energy stock Woodside Petroleum is trading nearly 1.5% down despite the company reporting a 6% rise in quarterly production. The company says it’s still in talks with third parties about processing gas through its Pluto liquefied natural gas project, after a potential client pulled out.

Woodside produced 20.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, or mmboe, in the three months ended September, up from 19.4 mmboe at the end of the June quarter. Revenue rose 13% to A$1.06 billion after sales lifted 5% to 20.3 mmboe.

Among other stocks in the energy space, Santos is up with a modest gain, Origin Energy is gaining about 1% and Oil Search is trading flat.

Shares of food & retailing major Wesfarmers Ltd are up nearly 7% after the company said its Coles retailing business had a solid performance in the first quarter of 2009-10 on the back of rising food and liquor sales, and an improvement in consumer confidence. Coles’ food and liquor sales rose 7.3% in the quarter, from the same period a year earlier, and were up 6.1% on a same store basis. Fuel and convenience sales also grew by 6.5% and by 1.3% respectively.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened higher with positive earnings reports from U.S. prompting investors to go for riskier assets. In early trades, the Aussie was quoting at US$0.9270-US$0.9273, up from Thursday’s close of US$0.9225-US$0.9228. The Australian dollar is currently trading at 0.9279 to the U.S. dollar.

The Japanese stock market opened on a buoyant note with the overnight rally on Wall Street and a weaker yen resulting in some strong buying in early trades. Though select stocks retreated a bit with a section of investors choosing a cautious route ahead of earnings reports, the mood remained fairly positive in the morning session.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which drifted down to 10,305 after a brisk start, was up 63.3 points, or 0.62%, at 10,331 at the end of the morning session.

Mitsubishi Motors surged higher on overall positive sentiment and on reports that the automaker likely posted a group operating loss of about 30 billion yen for the April-September half, smaller than the previously forecast 35 billion yen loss. The firm’s global sales surpassed its target, particularly in emerging markets. In the first half of last year, Mitsubishi logged a 25.3 billion yen profit.

Among other stocks in the automobile space, Nissan Motor is up nearly 2%, while Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Suzuki Motor and Mazda Motor are trading in negative territory.

Among bank stocks, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are trading higher, while Resona Holdings, Chiba Bank and Bank of Yokohama are exhibiting weakness.

Shares of leading steel manufacturers Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc. opened on a bright note on reports the firms likely booked smaller-than-expected group pretax losses for the six months ended September. However, after trading higher for a while, both the stocks have drifted lower and are currently trading just modestly higher than their previous closing prices.

Construction stock Daiwa House Industry is up nearly 5% following the company upgrading its April-September group earnings estimate. The stock opened up 20 yen at 988 yen and subsequently sailed past 1,000 yen. The company now pegs sales at 804.5 billion yen, 25.5 billion yen better than the previous estimate. Orders for detached houses surpassed their target and net profit likely came to 21 billion yen, 12 billion yen higher than previously predicted.

Machinery stocks Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery were up 2% and 3%, respectively in morning trades on expectations of strong first-half earnings. Several other machinery stocks were also seen trading higher this morning.

Non-ferrous metals and electric machinery stocks were mostly trading higher. Shares of securities firms, trading houses and retail companies exhibited a mixed trend.

Jafco Co. shares traded lower for the third straight session Friday morning, the day after the venture capital firm said it logged a 800 million yen group net loss for the April-September term.

Shares of transport equipments maker Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. rose over 5% Friday morning, after the firm raised its April-September group net profit estimate from 5 billion yen up to 9.5 billion yen on Thursday.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 91-yen range in Tokyo, slightly up from its late Thursday quotes in New York. In early trades, the dollar fetched 91.41-91.45 yen against Thursday’s close of 91.25-91.35 yen in New York and 91.42-44 yen in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 91.62 to the U.S. dollar.

Despite a bout of profit taking in some technology, oil and bank stocks, the South Korean market is trading in positive territory with impressive results from Hynix Semiconductor aiding sentiment to a marked extent.

The benchmark KOSPI index, which drifted down to around 1,633 after an early surge to 1,644, is currently up 9.7 points, or 0.59%, at 1,640.

Ending seven successive quarters of losses, memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor earned 246.28 billion won (US$207.25 million) in the three months ended September 30. It posted a net loss of 1.67 trillion won a year earlier. Higher prices for memory chips helped end multiple quarters of red ink. The stock, after trading about 1.5% up, has shed gains subsequently and is currently trading up by about 0.5%.

Among other stocks in the tech space, heavyweight Samsung Electronics is gaining about 1% and LG Electronics is trading with a modest gain, while LG Display LCD is down with a 1.5% loss.

Automobile stock Kia Motor is up nearly 4% on expectations of strong results. Hyundai Motor is gaining about 4.5%, while Ssangyong Motor is down in negative territory with a 3% loss.

Among bank stocks, Korea Exchange Bank and Woori Finance are trading notably higher, while Shinhan Financial and KB Financial are down with modest losses.

In the shipping space, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries are up modestly, while STX Pan Ocean and Daewoo Shipbuilding are trading higher by 1.3% and 1% respectively.

Steel stocks Hyundai Steel and POSCO are stronger. Energy, airlines and telecom stocks are exhibiting some weakness.

Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore are trading sharply higher, while New Zealand, Indonesia and Taiwan are up with modest gains. Markets in the region had ended moderately lower on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied on Thursday as earnings optimism eclipsed disappointing news on the downtrodden labor market. The major averages all closed firmly on the upside after seeing a largely lackluster performance for much of the session.

The Dow closed up 132 points, or 1.3%, at 10,081.3, the Nasdaq advanced by 14.6 points, or 0.7%, to 2,165.3 and the S&P 500 moved up 11.5 points, or 1.1%, to 1,092.9.

Major European markets closed considerably lower on Thursday. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped by about 1%, while the German DAX index and the French CAC 40 index ended lower by 1.2% and 1.4% respectively.

Crude oil finished slightly lower on Thursday but pared most of its daily losses. Light sweet crude for December delivery finished at US$81.84 per barrel, down 12 cents on the session. Prices had hit a low of US$79.84 earlier in the morning on disappointing employment report.

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Posted in Categories: Australia, Eurozone, Japan, New Zealand, Releases, Stocks, UK, USA.

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