120509 Asia Close

Afternoon all,

Asia closed well within expectation, with Nikkei down 1.62^, Kospi down 0.89%, TSEC down 3.23% and ASX down 1.24%. HSI, by midday, was down 1.74% but afternoon session pulled it back up 0.38%, led by HSBC (5.hk) (+1.82%), Cheung Kong (1.hk) (+1.80%), Hutchison (13.hk)( +4.37%) and CCB (+1.63%).

Back again, a sign of cautious came into play, with defensive utilities play, CLP (3.hk) up 1.76%, and HK & China Gas up 3.79%. Telco play was a mix story, China Mobile up 1.39%, while China telecom down 1.93%, and China Unicom down 1.19%. Consumer staples ended slightly up, with tsingtao () up 1.7%.

Financials were mostly down today, with ICBC down 1.70%, however, as mentioned before, CCB took its way from the bottom to end up 1.63%.

Autos were also dragging down as investors profit take on dongfeng (489.hk)'s run, ending down 6.70%, and Denway Motors (203.hk) down 3.59%, but Geely (175.hk), again, ran the separate way, going up 4.17%.

The oil sector rebounded from its bottom, with Cnooc ending down 0.82%, while sinopec bounced back up to 1.15% gain.

Special mention goes to the ports play, given that data came out, it did not help them much. Cosco tested the support line, ending back up 0.62%, while China Merchant did a bit of catch up, going under 2.75% (while bottomed at -5%).

ASX ended roughly in line within expectatation, as market tampering off from profit taking. Financials, in general, dragged the market lower, with Macquarie Group (MQG.ax) ending down 5.56%. Materials headed down south, with BHP down 2.75%, and Rio down 1.15%. Fortescue hit some technical sells after a strong rally yesterday, down 6.19%.

Defensive also didnt hold out in AU, as Telstra and Singtel also went down 0.63% and 1.61% respectively, however, given their recent run, this is quite reasonable. AGL and WOW went slightly up, 0.55% and 0.78%, showing how cautiousness is looking for sector rotation back into more defensive plays.

happy trading!

ongy out.