American stock market increased as all sectors rose in value

European markets recovered as ECB started stimulus program

Equity market in Europe gained value during the previous trading week, as the European Central Bank began providing more stimulus to region’s economy under the Targeted Long-term Refinancing Operations program. In total, the first package amounted to 82.6 billion euro. Moreover, inflation in the single currency area was revised up to 0.4%, while German economic sentiment performed better than expected.

The benchmark Europe Stoxx 600 Index increased 1.3% to trade at 348.52 points on Friday’s evening, as the majority of industries rose in value. The best performing ones included travel and leisure and insurance, which advanced 3.2% and 2.9%, respectively. Telecommunications followed with a jump of 2.7%. At the same time, food and beverage sector declined 0.4%, being the only one to lose ground during the last week. Among leading companies, Evraz Plc, a Russian steel making and mining company, climbed 23% to 1.83 euro, as it announced an initial public offering of North American unit of the company, which can be worth around $2 billion. Paddy Power Plc added 9.2% to expand the overall rise of the leisure sector.

Among other market indexes, British FTSE 100 advanced 0.5% to 6,837.92 points, posting the smallest gain among its main European counterparts, as Scottish independence referendum brought some volatility and nervousness to the local stock market. German DAX, in turn, surged 1.5% to close at 9.799.26 points on Friday.

American stock market increased as all sectors rose in value

U.S. share market showed the best performance among other major global markets, even though the vast majority of fundamental news was disappointing. Industrial production unexpectedly declined 0.1% in August, while housing sector weakened. Consumer price index in the country, however, slipped 0.2% last month. On the other hand, the Fed kept interest rates stable, while U.S. current account balance improved to grow below $100 billion deficit mark.

The main S&P 500 gauge advanced 1.3% from Monday to Friday and closed at 2,010.40 points, crossing the significant psychological level of 2,000 points for the second time in a month on a weekly basis. All the sectors, which are included in the index, gained value during the last week. While telecommunications added 3% in course of five trading days, energy sector rose marginal 0.2%. United States Steel Corp jumped 13.2% to $45.19, leading the advance of the week ended September 19. The largest producer of steel in the country is putting its Canadian subsidiary under creditor protection, thus cancelling $800 million of investment, as the manufacturer is trying to return to profit after five-year long period of losses. Du Pont De Nemours and Darden Restaurants Inc followed with an increase of 10% and 7.6% to $71.25 and $51.19, respectively.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed the most among American stock indexes, by adding 1.5% to 17,279.74 points. At the same time, the hi-tech index NASDAQ gained 1.4% to close around 4,579 points at market closing time on Friday.

Japanese equities surged to near seven-year high

Japanese stock market surged the most, compared to a number of other weeks, to reach almost seven-year highest point on Friday of the last week. On Tuesday, the Governor of the Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda revealed the idea of possible extra money injections into the economy, in case the GDP fails to gain momentum. Moreover, the pointed on rising inflation, as it is on course to reach 2% by the year 2016. Along with that, Japanese trade balance improved last month, while all industries activity decreased slightly.

Topix Index, the second-largest by market capitalization in Japan, rose 2.6% to 1,331.91 points during the previous week to reach the biggest mark since June 2008. At the same time, some sectors of the gauge registered a weekly decline, while the vast majority climbed, including transportation equipment by 5.7% and machinery by 4.7%. Among biggest losers, construction slipped 2.9% and real estate lost 2.7%. The gains were led by Sumco Corp, a semiconductor manufacturer, which added 23.9% to close at 1,254 on Friday. Janome Sewing Machine Co Ltd and Juki Corp followed with a rise of 23.7% and 16.8% to 167 yen and 382 yen, accordingly. On the other hand, Tasaki & Co Ltd, a jewellery and watch retailer, dropped 12.6% to trade at 1,120 yen per share on the last trading day of the week ended September 19.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 Index managed to surge by 3.9% last week to 16,321.17 points, crossing the 16,000 threshold level and pushing the year-to-date gains up to 10.5%.

Asia-Pacific shares deteriorated further as utilities plunged

Share market in the Asia-Pacific region was the only one among global marketplaces to show a decline during the last trading week, as the market was mainly driven by local companies’ news, rather than fundamental data. Among important statistics, New Zealand’s economy advanced more than forecasted by 0.7% in the second quarter, however, it had little impact on the equity market of the country and the whole region.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 market index lost 0.7% to 5,433.10 in course of five working days, as all but one industry declined in value from Monday to Friday. The sharpest loss was registered by the utility sector, which went down 2%. Telecommunications and basic materials followed with a drop of 1.1% and 1%, respectively. Energy sector, in turn, added 0.1%, helped by Awe Ltd, as its shares increased 13.9% to A$1.97. The company is likely to announce a successful discovery of the largest natural gas field in Western Australia for past 50 years, as it may contain around one trillion cubic feet of it. Evolution Mining Ltd grew 11.8% to A$0.76 per share, capping the overall plunge of the basic materials industry. On the contrast, Arrium Ltd plummeted 40.9% to A$0.3750, as the company is looking for way to sell $680 million of shares amid falling prices of iron ore.

New Zealand’s stock market performed mostly in line with its Australian counterpart, with the NZX50 Index falling 0.6% to 5,181.34 points, while Hang Seng decreased only 0.2% to close the week at the 24,306.16 mark.

EXPLANATIONS

Indexes

• Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) or (SPX) - U.S. stock market index consisting of the 500 large-cap shares widely traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (INDU) - U.S. stock market index consisting of the 30 large publicly owned U.S. companies , primarily industrials

• NASDAQ Composite Index - U.S. stock market index representing all the stocks that are traded on the Nasdaq stock market, mostly technology and Internet-related

• New Zealand Exchange 50 Gross Index (NZX 50) - stock market index consisting of the top 50 companies listed on the New Zealand Stock exchange

• S&P/ASX 200 - a market-capitalization weighted stock market index of stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange from Standard and Poor’s

• Hang Seng Index (HI) - Hong Kong’s stock market index consisting of 48 largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Exchange

• Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average (Nikkei 225 Index) or (NKY) - Japanese stock market index consisting of the 225 largest companies listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange

• FTSE 100 Index (UKX) - U.K. stock market index consisting of the 100 most capitalized U.K. companies trading on the London Stock Exchange

• DAX Index (DAX) - German stock market index consisting of the 30 largest and most liquid German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

• Eurostoxx 600 - stock market index, derived from the Stoxx Europe Total Market Index, consisting of 600 large, mid - and small-sized companies from 18 European countries

Chart

• Correlation - statistical measure of the linear relationship between two random variables. It is defined as the covariance divided by the standard deviation of two variables.

• Historical price changes - chart reflecting the historical price changes of particular region’s stock indices

Indicators

• Industry performance - weekly performance of industries within the particular stock market index

• Top performers - companies within a particular stock market index showing the best or worst weekly performance

• Performance - relative historical change of stock market index value