Momentum has slowly picked up across Asia, with most bourses in the region set for decent gains after a slow start, FTAdviser sister publication FastFT reports.
Stan Shamu, strategist at IG, said: “While there hasn’t been much data for the market to work off, it seems the improvement in sentiment in US trade was enough to see glimpses of positive momentum in Asia. A pullback in energy prices has also been quite positive for markets with a slight downgrade to geopolitical tension in Iraq.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 0.2 per cent, a second consecutive gain that places it on track for a sixth straight weekly climb.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 0.6 per cent, not enough to erase the 1.7 per cent slide on Monday.
China’s Shanghai Composite is up 0.4 per cent, its biggest gain in a week.
South Korea’s Kospi is up 1.2 per cent, on track for its best session in five weeks.
Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 has pared losses from half a per cent -0.3 per cent.
Unfortunately, the momentum doesn’t seem to be carrying over into Europe.
Mr Shamu said the major bourses there are set to open flat. “This is quite disappointing considering we already saw some fairly hefty losses yesterday,” he adds.
Some of the key stock moves in Asia:
Japanese audio company Pioneer climbed 6.4 per cent after the Nikkei business daily said it would sell its AV equipment business to electronics company Onkyo and Hong Kong fund Baring Private Equity Asia.
Aussie department store chain David Jones rose 4.2 per cent on hopes that Woolworths’ takeover of the company will go smoothly now that a major hurdle looks to have been removed.
Aussie adventure clothing maker Kathmandu fell 12 per cent after a weak outlook.
