Asia-Pacific equities mixed as Australian market surged

European stock markets surged during October 19-23 week

Equity market in Europe jumped considerably during the previous trading week, as positive fundamental data and the promise of further stimulus from the European Central Bank influenced stock markets in a bullish way, pushing it to trade in the green zone. The Euro zone composite purchasing managers’ index unexpectedly rose from 53.6 points in September to 54.0 points in October. However, business activity measures pointed to the risk of a slowdown.

The benchmark Eurostoxx 600 Index, in turn, climbed 3.6% to 377.36 points from Monday to Friday, while all sectors advanced in their weekly value. Therefore, the annual gain of the indicator was rooted into the green territory. Automobiles & parts and telecommunications leaded market gains, as these industries added 6.7% and 7.08% last week. Among market movers, Cable & Wireless Communication, a British multinational telecommunications company, surged 30.3% to trade at 0.41 pence per share. The company’s shares were spurred after it confirmed it was in takeover talks with Virgin Media owner Liberty Global. Liberty Global, which also has a 10% stake in UK TV company ITV, has not formally announced its offer and has until 19 November to decide if it will.The deal would allow Liberty Global to expand its reach in the Caribbean where it lacks a mobile phone presence.

Among other major stock indicators, German DAX soared 6.2% to 10,502 points last week, while British FTSE 100 grew as much as 1.4% to 6,376.28 points.

US stock market surged significantly on positive economic data

Last week, equity market in the United States expanded notably, taking inti account outstanding fundamental data from the country. Existing home sales in the world’s biggest economy grew 4.7% in September to an annual rate of 5.5 million units, the second-highest monthly sales pace since February 2007. Moreover, according to the National Association of Home Builders housing market index rose to a 10-year high of 64 in October. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims increased 3,000 to 259,000 for the week ended 17 October, remaining near a 42-year low. The four-week moving average fell 2,000 to 263,250. Continuing claims rose 6,000 to 2.17 million for the week ended 10 October.

The main S&P 500 stock gauge jumped 2.04% to close at 2,052.51 points on Friday of the previous week. However, the index managed to erase almost all losses that occurred during the last three months. All the sectors that comprise the benchmark rose in value, only except companies of the health care and utilities industries, which lost 0.4% and 0.9% last week. Among best performing companies, Kla-Tencor Corp, a capital equipment company, added 23% to trade at $64.90 per share on Friday, following a better than expected earnings announcement. Among biggest losers, SteriCycle Inc. dropped 19.5% to $149.04.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 2.4% to 17,489.16 points, while NASDAQ gained 2.5% to close the trading week at the 4,920.04 mark.

Asia-Pacific equities mixed as Australian market surged

Share markets in the Asia-Pacific economic region showed a moderate growth during the trading week ended October 24, while almost all the main stock indexes increased in weekly value and followed their counterparts from other parts of the world. As the People’s Bank of China cut its policy interest rate and the reserve-requirement ratio for banks to try to boost credit growth and revive the country’s slowing economy. Third-quarter gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.9%. This was the slowest pace since early 2009 but above the expected 6.8%, indicating a continuing gradual slide.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index, which represents the biggest companies of the region, mostly from Australia, surged 1.5% to hit the 5,263.80 mark on Friday’s evening. All sectors showed a positive development last week. Telecommunications and consumer staples, in turn, jumped as much as 3.7% and 2.5%, respectively. Senex Energy Ltd an Australian energy company climbed 24.2% to $0.19 per share. DrillSearch Energy Ltd, skyrocketed 23.1% to $0.65, due to the announcement that the company will merge with Beach Energy Ltd., creating an almost 1.17 billion Australian dollar (US $842.7 million) energy company that will be Australia’s biggest onshore oil producer and a sizable natural-gas supplier.

The Hang Seng Index registered a 0.02% downside movement to reach 22,845.37 points last week, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index increased 2.3% to 5,923.60 points.

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

•  Download Full Global Stock Market Review