Worse-than-expected trade data from China capped gains for stocks across Asia Thursday.
The Nikkei ended flat as it pared intra-day gains of over a percent. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.3% while the Hang Seng gained 0.4%. The Sensex was flat at the time of writing while the All Ordinaries moved up 0.3%.
Data showed China's exports fell 6.6% in March while imports dropped 11.3%. However, the nation did record a better-than-expected surplus of $7.71 billion. The Chinese markets moved lower immediately after the data but recovered, helped by other positive news. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday China would open up its markets to establish mutual stock market connectivity between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Financial shares, brokerages in particular, surged on the news, helping the index reverse the morning’s losses.
In Australia, a data release showed March unemployment fell sharply to 5.8% which was better than expected, as were the employment numbers. The number of employed Australians rose by 18,100, beating expectations for a drop of 10,000, according to a consensus reported by Dow Jones newswires.
The Ukraine crisis remains in the backdrop with top officials from the G7 economies reportedly set to meet later today to consider increasing sanctions against Russia.
Stocks on the Move
Olympus Corp. gained 3.8%, shrugging off a Bloomberg report that six banks are suing the company for about $274 million over its accounting scandal in 2011.
Sony was down half a percent.
Toyota was also lower, down 2.3% after its announcement yesterday of a recall of 6.4 million vehicles.
A slight weakening of the yen helped some exporters.
In brokerage names in Hong Kong, Guotai Junan rocketed about 20%. China Everbright surged 7.4% and Galaxy Securities shot up almost 10%. Tanrich Financial Holdings gained 3.3%. CITIC Securities and Haiton Securities were up 6.4% and 5.7% each, respectively.
Tencent also extended gains, up 3.9%.
The Sensex created another record high in early trade before scaling back. The top gainers were Tata Motors, up 2.8%, followed by BHEL, up 2.4%, and SBI, up 2.2%.
SBI is set to raise $750 million to a billion dollars in bond sales overseas.
NTPC was up 1.7% after it settled its dues with two Coal India subsidiaries, closing a long-standing tussle.
In Sydney, David Jones edged up 0.3% while Myer Holdings fell 3.6%.
Treasury Wine Estates traded flat.
Index leader BHP Billiton was down 1.4% while Fortescue Metals dropped 1.9%.