Asia Pacific market

European shares

European shares ended in positive territory on Friday, closing the week on a high amid rising hopes over the ECB’s asset purchasing program.

The Euro Stoxx 600 Index added 1.5% to 339.18 on week after having increased for eight consecutive days. The gauge hit its highest level in more than five years during its Friday’s trading session. On Friday, cyclical stocks on the index were in demand, with the Basic Resources index advancing 1.1%, heading the sub-index to a weekly gain of 3%. Among individual movers, Metso OYJ, a Finnish mining, construction and oil and gas firm, was the top performer on the Euro Stoxx 600, as its stock price jumped 21% on week to end at 28.07 euros on April 4, dragging higher the industrial sector. The company’s stock advanced on news that Weir Group, Scottish Engineering Giant, would acquire Metso OYJ. That also caused a resonance from a state-owned company Solidium which has an 11% stake in the firm. Furthermore, banking shares showed solid gains on Friday with Banca Popolare di Sondrio, an Italian lender, climbing 20% to close Friday’s trading session at 5.41 euros, the highest level since March 2012.

The German DAX Index also added 1.5% last week to finish the week at its one-month high of 9,695.77 points. The stock market received a strong boost on Friday when German retail sales surged 1.3%, beating the 0.5% estimate.

The FTSE 100 Index ended the week at 6,695.55, extending a third weekly advance.

U.S. stocks

American stocks traded in the red territory during the last week, with the Nasdaq Composite Index falling the most in two months on Friday. All indices slumped on Friday after having reached records on Wednesday, as consumer and technology stocks plunged prior to the release of monthly jobs report.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was 1.7% down on week to finish Friday’s trading session at 4,127.73 points, its lowest level since February 7. The losses were mainly triggered by large tech stocks from Google Inc. to Yahoo Inc. after investors sold off the biggest winners of the bull market.

The S&P 500 Index closed the trading week at 1,865.09 points, 0.4% down from its Monday’s trading price. Five out of ten industry groups inched higher, whereas technology shares were the worst performers on the S&P. Among individual movers, E*TRADE Financial Corporation was the last week’s weakest blue chip stock with a nearly 10% weekly drop to close the week at 20.43 euros to pace losses among financial shares. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation increased 19% from $84.76 to $101.05 during the week and lifted the energy sector that was 1% up on week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index decreased the least by 0.3% on week to 16,418.75 points.

Japanese shares

Japanese stock market ended the trading session on the 4th of April on a slightly positive note. Japan’s Topix index and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average both advanced 2.5 % last week, whereas the Yen hit its lowest since January. Stocks gained even after the Tankan index of sentiment among large manufacturers missed estimates and the national sales tax was raised till 8 % from 5%. According to Japan Exchange Group Inc., volume on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was a record 785 billion shares in the year ended March 31.

The broader TOPIX Index ended its’ weekly trading at 1,215.89 points on the 4th of April gaining somewhat 12 points from the beginning of last week. 10 out of 33 industry groups edged higher with mining shares showing the biggest weekly gain of 3%. Among other best performers were real estate and rubber products with a climb of 2.5% and 1.8% respectively. However, energy turned out to be the weakest performer during the last week with a loss of 4%, followed by information and communication with an almost 4% retreat. Among individual companies Fudo Tetra Corp companies shares soared by 20% closing the trading week on 189 yen per share, followed by Yamaichi Electronics Co LTD with their weekly jump of 16% closing the trading week with 487 yen per share. Hokkaido Electric Power Co plummeted by 18% ending the trading session on Friday at 722 yen per share and Sanix Inc. contracted by 10%.

Asia Pacific market

Asian Pacific shares traded mixed during the last week, yet mostly declining on Friday, as investors were chasing out profit off the table prior to the economic data release on the U.S. unemployment. Risk sentiments were also rather bearish amid ECB’s decision to not cut the interest rates and leave them unchanged at 0.25%.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index rallied 0.5% on week to finish Friday’s session at 5,410.30 points. The gauge hit a record earlier in the week when it closed at 5,422.83 points. The losses in seven out ten industry groups were offset by solid gains in basic material, consumer staple and health care shares. OZ Minerals Ltd, a mining company with a focus on copper, added 11.4% on week for the biggest gain among all blue chip stocks to end the week at A$3.81 to extend its advance for a second straight week. On the downside, Australian Infrastructure Fund with a 20% drop.

The New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index advanced 0.5% over the week ending April 4 to 5,123.90 points.

Elsewhere in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index jumped 1.6% on week, yet further gains were capped by losses in Friday’s trading session as investors took profit prior to U.S. jobs data. The benchmark index closed the week at 22,510.08 points. However, the gauge has still lost 1.4% during the last three months.

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