Among Asian bourses, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 103.89 points, or 0.67%, to finish the session at 15515.24, as investors locking gain after the market rallied to six-month high on Monday and as yen appreciated from yesterday level against the greenback. The greenback was buying 101.53 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, nearly flat from 101.51 yen in New York but well off a six-month high of 101.90 yen in Asia Monday.
The decline in Tokyo cash market also came as investors shifted funds for buying super-long bonds on the back of a strong 40-year auction. The Ministry of Finance sold 399.2 billion yen worth of 40-year bonds with the highest yield of 1.76%, lower than the market forecast of 1.775%, indicating buyers were willing to purchase the debt at a higher price than expected. The gauge of demand bid-to-cover ratio that compares the total amount bid and offered also improved to 4.13 from 3.37 at the previous tender.
Most Bank of Japan board members agreed that inflation was likely to reach around 2% toward the latter half of the projection period of between the 2013 and 2015 fiscal years, according to minutes of the Oct. 31 meeting released today in Tokyo.
GS Yuasa dropped 1.2% to 597 yen after Credit Suisse revised down its rating for the battery maker to underperform from neutral.
Fujifilm Holdings rose 4.3% to 2803 yen on reports that the company will create cancer treatments jointly with one of the world's leading cancer hospitals, MD Anderson Cancer Center in the U.S.
In Australia, Australian share market finished slight higher after recouping losses late afternoon, with gains in banks shares were more than offset by falls in major mining and industrial stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 4.20 points, or 0.08%, to 5357. The broader All Ordinaries added 4.50 points, or 0.08%, to 5350.60.
Australian major banks were higher, with Commonwealth Bank gaining 0.8% to A$76.85, Westpac Banking Corp 0.7% at A$32.76, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group 0.5% to A$31.95 and National Australia Bank 0.9% to A$34.40.
Australian materials and resources went lower as base metal prices were mostly weaker on the London Metal Exchange on Monday, with BHP Billiton declining 0.2% at A$37.80, while Rio Tinto lost 0.6% to A$65.04 and Fortescue Metals shed 1.4% to A$5.74.
It was reported Rio Tinto is likely to close its loss-making Gove alumina refinery in the Northern Territory as talks with the government continue. The plant is the biggest employer in the Arnhem Land region.
Junior gold stocks were mostly higher as the precious metal's spot price recovered to $1253.31, although Australia's biggest gold miner, Newcrest Mining, fell 1.9% to A$8.10. Perseus Mining advanced 3.6% to 28.5 Australian cents, rebounding from yesterday's 5.2% slide. Evolution Mining Ltd. added 1.7% to 61.5 Australian cents, following its 5.5% loss yesterday.
Woolworths shares jumped 0.4% to A$34.08. The group chairman Ralph Waters defended at AGM that the progress of the Masters, business saying the market was being impatient about a business that is only two years old. Masters lost A$157 million in 2012/13, more than the A$119 million forecast by the company. Mr Waters also answered questions about the decision to offload Dick Smith for A$94 million to a private equity firm, which will soon float the restructured business at a value of over A$500 million. However Mr Waters said the decision had been made to exit quickly and cleanly from the business to focus on Woolworths' core strategy. Woolworths announced its chief financial officer will step down after ll years in the job. Tom Pockett, who will retire next February, will be replaced by David Marr, who is currently the general manager of corporate finance.
Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) shares declined 2.9% to A$4.63 in spite of gaming machine maker said its full year profit rose almost 17 % despite a slide in revenue. The group reported a net profit of A$107 million for the 12 months to September 30, up from A$91.7 million for the same period last year. Aristocrat said strong growth from its North American business and an increase in selling prices contributed to the result. Revenue fell 3.4% to A$808.7 million, due to fewer scheduled games releases in Japan. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Odell was optimistic about the next 12 months saying that whilst conditions will remain competitive across major markets, continued growth in NPAT growth over the 2014 full year, would be driven by improvement in operational performance across our key markets.
Brickworks (BKW) shares rose 2.1% to A$13.80 after building products maker announcing a better prospect year in 2014 as housing construction recovers, boosting orders for materials. The Managing Director Lindsay Partridge said profitability improved in the three months to the end of September, primarily because of a better performance from its Austral bricks and masonry businesses. We are beginning to see signs of a more broad based recovery in building activity, which is being reflected in increasing orders in most regions and divisions, Mr Partridge told the company's annual general meeting.
Australian dollar recovered modestly against greenback and other major currencies on Tuesday after RBA's comment on intervention. The aussie weakened since RBA governor Steven said he's open-minded on intervention. RBA deputy governor Lowe reiterated that the central bank doesn't rule intervention in or out. But he also noted that it has been a long-standard practice. Also, Lowe emphasized that the threshold for intervention is fairly high. The comments were seen as aiming at playing down the impact of Steven's talk on intervention and indicate RBA isn't close to intervening to curb Aussie's strength. Regarding the economy, Lowe noted that Australia can no longer depend on a rising terms of trade and favorable demographics. And he warned that if the lift in productivity growth does not take place, Australian would need to adjust to some combination of slower growth in real wages, slower growth in profits, smaller gains in asset prices and slower growth in government revenues and services.
In China, Chinese stock market eased for fourth session in row on Tuesday, 26 November 2013, with shares in Sinopec and China Southern Airline players led losses. The Shanghai Composite shed 3.04 points to finish at 2183, while the CSI 300 Index dropped 1.21 points to 2387.42.
Shares of Chinese energy players were top loser in the SSE, with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. leading losses, down by 2.7% to 4.72 yuan after seven people from the refiner were detained after a pipeline explosion.
Shares of Guangxi-based companies rose after the China Securities Journal said the province's Dongxing city may be allowed to set up a free-trade zone. Dongxing is the only Chinese city connected by both land and sea with the Asean nations, it said. Guangxi Wuzhou Zhongheng Group Co. rose 2.7% to 13.54 yuan.
China's central bank governor said on Tuesday, 26 November 2013, that Beijing is moving ahead with plans to liberalize domestic interest rates and reduce its intervention in the foreign exchange market, the state-run China Securities Journal's website reported. In a speech at a financial forum, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan repeated statements that the central bank is focusing on liberalizing deposit rates and wants to withdraw from routine intervention in the foreign exchange market. Mr. Zhou also was cited as saying that China will speed its move toward capital account convertibility in order to facilitate overseas trade and investment by domestic companies. The central bank chief also called for expanded quotas under the qualified domestic institutional investors and qualified foreign institutional investors programs, which cover inbound and outbound investments by institutions.
In Hong Kong, shares in HK market closed lower after moving in narrow range, with Hang Seng Index declining 3.7 points to finish at 23681.28, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 85.18 points to 11302.03. The decline in city bourses came on losses among shares of energy, insurers and some financial issues.
Among the HK 50 blue chips, 26 stocks rose and 22 fell, with 2 stocks remaining steady. China Resources Power Holdings Co advanced 2.4% to HK$18.66, while China Petroleum & Chemical Corp declined 2.6% to HK$6.65, making themselves the biggest blue-chip winner and loser. Market heavyweights of the Hang Seng index were mixed. HSBC Holdings rose 0.29% to HK$86.70, while China Life Insurance Co fell 1.6% to HK$24.65 and Ping An Insurance Group Co shed 0.21% to HK$72. Meanwhile, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group dropped 0.48% to HK$12.32 ahead of interim financial results due for release after market close.
Chinese energy stocks listed in Hong Kong declined, with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec softening 2.6% to HK$6.65 following reports that seven of the refiner's employees have been detained by authorities following a deadly pipeline blast late last week that killed at least 55 people. Other petroleum stocks were also lower. PetroChina (00857) and Kunlun Energy (00135) fell 1% and 1.5% to HK$9.23 and HK$14.18, respectively.
In India, Indian benchmark indices edged lower in choppy trade, with selling intensifying towards the latter part of the trading session. Weakness in Asian and European stocks hurt investor sentiment adversely. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was provisionally down 202.38 points or 0.98%, up close to 10 points from the day's low and off about 215 points from the day's high.
Among Indian blue chips, index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC dropped. Bank stocks edged lower. Realty stocks also declined. PSU OMCs dropped as global crude oil prices traded mixed today, 26 November 2013, after trimming intraday losses on Monday, 25 November 2013. Education stocks rallied.
Coal India (CIL) shed 2.45%. Coal India has identified 126 new projects to take up during the 12th Plan period with an estimated capacity of 438.04 million tonnes (MT). Out of these 60 projects are likely to contribute about 88 MT during the terminal year of 12th Plan i.e. 2016-17. Beside this, CIL has planned a number of other initiatives to increase coal production. In order to infuse world class technology and modernize, CIL has been decided to appoint a consultant of international standings for the modernization of its mines. The bid for selection of consultant is under process.
IDBI Bank fell in choppy trade after global credit rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded the lender's rating to below investment grade citing expectations for weaker asset quality. The stock shed 1.23% at Rs 64. The scrip hit high of Rs 64.65 and low of Rs 63.55. S&P lowered IDBI's foreign currency issuer credit rating to BB-plus/B from BBB-minus/A-3. The outlook is negative. We downgraded IDBI because we expect the bank's asset quality to remain weak over the next 12-18 months, said Standard and Poor's in a report released on Monday, 25 November 2013.
Elsewhere in the region, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index fell 2.3%. Singapore's Straits Times index shed 0.22%. South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.33%. Taiwan's Taiex index added 0.74%. Malaysia's KLSE Composite rose 0.01%.
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