Asian markets survived choppy trading and persistent worries over the euro-zone’s debt troubles on Tuesday to end with small gains as investors looked for bargains after a steep fall in global equities the previous day.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average peeked up 16.54 points, or 0.2%, to 9,477.17
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 19.76 points, or 0.1%, to 22,730.80
Stock advances in Tokyo came in spite of lackluster earnings reports from several companies recently, with investors also looking beyond European debt problems temporarily.
Sony Corp. rose 2.7%, despite forecasting a huge loss for the fiscal year ended March 31 and warned that it now expected a loss in the current financial year. Analysts at Deutsche Bank said that while the forecast wasn’t good news, it reduced uncertainty for investors and hence was a positive.
Shares of Komatsu Ltd. climbed 1.5% and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. added 1.1% to recoup some of the losses they suffered Monday on concerns about a slowdown in China.
In Hong Kong, shares of Cnooc Ltd. rose 1.1% and PetroChina Co. added 0.8% to support market gains after a volatile session.
Among heavyweight stocks, China Mobile Ltd. rose 1.7% after Citigroup said it was maintaining a buy rating on the mobile-services giant due to the stock’s "compelling" value.
But HSBC Holdings PLC gave up 0.4% after BofA Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to neutral from a buy, saying a dividend increase from the banking major was no longer on the cards.
Australian financial stocks ended lower after Sky News reported on its website that Moody’s Investors Service may downgrade 14 U.K. banks and building societies due to concerns over the withdrawal of government support.
At the end of the day’s trading, Moody’s placed ratings of 14 U.K. firms, including Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group, on review for a possible downgrade.
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp. each dropped 1%.
In foreign-exchange markets, the euro rebounded against the U.S. dollar and the yen after taking a tumble on Monday. The euro was recently fetching $1.4095 U.S. from $1.4048 U.S. in late New York trade Monday, and 115.49 yen from ¥115.18. The dollar was at ¥81.91 from ¥81.97.
CHINA
Stocks in Shanghai closed lower on doubts corporate-earnings growth could sustain its momentum.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Composite Index added a mere 3.24 points, or 0.1%, to 3,026.22
Shares of PetroChina Co. lost 1.9% and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. gave up 0.7%.
The drop also came after Goldman Sachs lowered China’s gross domestic product forecasts for 2011 and 2012, while raising its 2011 inflation estimate for the country.
In other markets;
Taiwan’s Taiex Index picked up 9.10 points, or 0.1%, to 8,856.61
Korea’s Kospi index tacked on 6.05 points, or 0.3%, to 2,061.76
Singapore’s Straits Times Index inched ahead 2.61 points, or 0.1%, to 3,113.09
New Zealand’s NZX 50 gathered 5.41 points, or 0.2%, to 3,559.55
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 erased 14.20 points, or 0.3%, to 4,628.80
