Asian Shares Mixed as U.S. Dollar Rises, Japan Earnings Loom
July 20 2016 - 12:30AM
Dow Jones News
Asian shares had a mixed showing on Wednesday, with a sharp rise
in the U.S. dollar sending traders to the sidelines ahead of key
earnings in Japan.
The Nikkei Stock Average was trading 0.7% lower, breaking six
consecutive sessions of gains. South Korea's Kospi was down 0.2%,
while the Shanghai Composite Index was trading 0.3% lower.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.7%.
"Traders are now treading water," said Angus Nicholson, a market
analyst at IG Markets in Australia. Markets had a huge rally ahead
of expectations that there will be a series of easing measures by
central banks across the world, he said. "We have to yet to see
those policies in reality," he said.
The focus in Japan is now switching from expectations of more
policy easing to caution ahead of the coming earnings season, with
companies likely hurt by a strong local currency.
"There is some impact from a higher yen. The focus is how big
downward revisions they'd have to make," said Naoki Fujiwara, a
fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.
Shares in McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) were up 6.4%, building
on Tuesday's gains on news the company will sponsor the
introduction of Poké mon Go in Japan, making its restaurants key
locations for players.
However, shares of Nintendo, which has a major stake in the Poké
mon franchise, pared their earlier gains and were trading down
13.9%.
Elsewhere in the region, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 recovered
from early weakness and was trading up 0.6%, thanks to higher
commodity prices. With the exception of aluminum, copper, nickel
and zinc prices recovered. The rise in the dollar had led to
weakness in commodity prices earlier in the day.
Earlier Wednesday, the People's Bank of China surprised the
market when it set the yuan slightly stronger against the U.S.
dollar, despite the greenback's overnight rally. The fixing was
seen by traders as an attempt by China to address speculation it is
intentionally weakening its currency to boost competitiveness.
The stronger yuan did little to boost Chinese stocks, with more
than two-thirds of Shanghai-listed shares down Wednesday
morning.
Overnight, the dollar rose to a four-month high against other
currencies after a report showed U.S. home-building rose more than
expected in June. The data showed the U.S. economy is gaining
momentum heading into the second half of 2016.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund cut its global
economic growth outlook for 2016 on Tuesday, citing the uncertain
fallout of the Brexit vote. It expects the world economy to grow
3.1% this year, down 0.1 percentage point from the outlook in
April. However, it seemed to have little impact on markets.
"Markets have already priced in decline in the U.K. and Europe,"
Mr. Nicholson said.
Kosaku Narioka and Ewen Chew contributed to this article.
Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 20, 2016 00:15 ET (04:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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