By Chao Deng and Brad Frischkorn
TOKYO -- Stocks in Asia were mixed in subdued trade Wednesday,
with Japanese shares falling on profit-taking while shares in
Australia were lifted by a stronger U.S. dollar.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended down 0.6% at 16,082.25 with
the dollar hovering around Yen109.81, up from Yen109.65 late
Tuesday in New York.
The benchmark index had risen into positive territory earlier as
the dollar continued on its recent upward surge and broke above the
psychologically important Yen110 mark for the first time in more
than six-and-a-half years. But shares later pulled back, weighed by
profit-taking.
A slew of the U.S. economic data recently are providing clearer
signals to allow an eventual tightening by the Federal Reserve as
early as in 2015, making the dollar-denominated assets more
attractive to yield seeking investors. A stronger dollar benefits
export-dependent countries such as Japan, as it lets producers
lower prices on goods they sell overseas and purchase more yen when
they repatriate their profits.
Shares of auto maker Toyota Motor hit a fresh 2014 high before
closing up 0.6%.
A survey of business sentiment by the Bank of Japan showed that
confidence among large Japanese manufacturers rose to a reading of
13, from 12 in June, despite a consumption tax hike in April.
"Labor markets are the tightest they have been since 1992,
managers' perception of spare production capacity is that it is
tight, and business confidence is higher than expected," said CLSA
equity strategist Nicholas Smith. "Combined with a progressively
weaker yen and the potential for corporate earnings upgrades and
wage hikes, there is little to not like."
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 5,334.10, as the
Australian dollar weakened on weaker-than-expected retail sales
data in August. Retail sales climbed 0.1% from a month earlier, the
Australian Bureau of Statistics said, compared with the 0.4% rise
expected by economists.
South Korea's Kospi index was down 1.4%, after an HSBC's
purchasing managers' index gauge of manufacturing activity fell to
48.8 in September, from 50.3 in August. Stocks in Taiwan were up
0.3%.
Trading in Asia was quiet with financial markets in Hong Kong
and mainland China closed for a public holiday. Hong Kong's stock
exchange will also be closed Thursday, while markets in the
mainland are closed until Oct. 7 for China's National Day
holiday.
China's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index -- a
key gauge of China's manufacturing -- held steady in September at
51.1 -- suggesting that domestic economic growth has somewhat
stabilized but at a modest level. But the data didn't have much
impact on regional share trading.
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