World markets were mixed in Friday trading as the strong yen continues to be a burden and the disappointing U.S. jobs data has investors waiting for the speech from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke today.
Traders in Japan took Friday as an opportunity to secure some profits after yesterday’s rally as the yen moved on to yet another 15 year high against the USD. Exporters continue to battle to hold share value amid ongoing anxiety about the strength of the yen.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed down 83.26 points, or .87%, to 9,500.25.
Number Ones Lose Ground --
Largest camera maker in the world, Canon Inc., dropped 1.3%
Largest automaker in the world, Toyota Motor Corp. shed 1.2%
Largest plasma television maker in the world, Panasonic Corp. fell 1.2%.
In China, stocks rose as anticipation of Beijing’s upcoming five-year plan will be centered on increasing domestic spending power, which will be a benefit to the large number of state owned companies that dominate the markets.
The Shanghai Composite closed up 91.52 points, or 3.18%, to 2,917.16.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd added to yesterday’s gains with another 6.6% climb.
China Vanke Co., the nation's biggest property developer, added 1.6%.
New High – Shares of Air China Ltd. rose to a two-year high as the yuan gains help in reducing the cost of financing the airline’s dollar debt.
Citic Securities Ltd. surged 9.6%, putting an exclamation point at the end of a week that saw shares climbed 32% on anticipation that revenues will be boosted by increased trading volumes.
The Hang Seng gave some back today; dropping 94.54 points to close at 23,757.63. In the previous 2 sessions, the Hang Seng had climbed more than 700 points.
Elsewhere, the smaller markets were primarily down:
South Korea's Kospi gained .13% to 1,902.29.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed down by .215% to 4,689.000.
India's Sensex dropped; losing 1.92%.
Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 6.52 points to 1,489.86.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index fell 21.45 points.
Shenzhen Composite gained by .520% to 1,212.671.
Taiwan's Taiex gave back 10.15 points.
Singapore's Straits Times Index gained by .29%.
New Zealand's NZX 50 fell by .21%.
Philippine shares were down by.402%.
Shares in Thailand closed up by .431%.
