Japanese shares closed purely green

European shares were positive during previous trading week

European shares rebounded from their weekly losses in the week ending April 15. Concerning the economic data, the report on the Euro zone's inflation hit a zero level on a yearly basis in March, better than a -0.2% rate projected by analysts.

The Stoxx Europe 600 added 2.9% over the week to close at 342 points. Fourteen out of 19 sub-industry groups included in the gauge edged higher. The top performers for the week were Italian Banks, since the Italian government agreed on a draft plan to support the banking system. Moreover, Italian bankruptcy laws will likely be amended as part of the package, making it easier for banks to speed up the disposal of bad loans. Therefore, Banco Popolare SC advanced 28% to trade at 6.24 euro while Banca Monte Dei Paschi Siena went up 27.6% to 0.6005 euro. On the other hand, Sulzer AG-REG, a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm decreased 15.7% to 79.20 euro.

The German DAX Index rallied 3.8% on the short trading week ending April 15 to close at 10,085.50 points. Another index FTSE 100 also has retained the positive trend this week and was trading at 6,343.75 close to the end of the session on Monday.

 

US stock indices close mostly higher compared to the previous week

The US stock markets finished the week in the green territory. The US labor market remains robust, claims for state unemployment insurance went down to their lowest level since 1973 — when the US population was significantly smaller than it is today. Only 253,000 first-time claims were filed in the latest week.

The S&P 500 Index advanced 1.9% on week to finish at 2,080.73 points. Nine of the ten industry sectors in the gauge inched higher, with the financials stocks jumping as much as 3.6% on week. In the meantime, consumer staples stocks were sold off last week amid concerns the shares were overvalued. The Chesapeake Energy Corp., was the last week’s best performing blue chip company with a 60% gain, lifting one of the weakest performing energy sector. An American company that manufactures and services heavy machinery used in energy sector, Joy Global Inc, advanced 28.8% to trade at $18.66.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1.9% on week to end at 17,897.46 points while the Nasdaq finished last week at 4,938.21 points, 28.8% up on week.

 

Japanese shares closed purely green

The Japanese equities traded in a purely positive environment during the April 11-15 week, since a weaker yen continued to benefit shares of Japanese exports. Investors also reacted to fresh comments from Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda who said the bank will implement additional easing if needed to meet its inflation target.

The Nikkei 225 benchmark index soared 6.9% to hover around 16,848.03 points at the end of the trading week ended on April 15. Moreover, all sectors of the gauge posted a sharp increase, with Iron & steel and glass & ceramic products industries leading the rise by 10.2% and 7.2%, respectively. Among best performers, Ce Holdings Co Ltd, a Japan-based information technology company surged 31.5% to 1,034 yen. On the other hand, Gulliver International Co, the company is principally engaged in the sale of used cars, plummeted 16.5% to trade at 1,188 yen. Such an impressive decline took place after the company announced its weak operating profit for the last year.

Meanwhile, Topix shares gained 6.63 to trade at 1,361.4 points.

 

Asia Pacific Shares experienced increase in value

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark gauge posting its biggest weekly increase in almost 2 months. Industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment all rebounded in March after the disappointing reports in February. Last month's drop-off may have been affected of the extended Lunar New Year holiday period. Meanwhile, Chinese Gross domestic product for the first quarter of the year rose 6.7%, as expected.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index managed to reach 5,157.50 on Friday, marking a weekly gain of 4.5%. Nine out ten industry groups included in the index surged on week, with basic materials rising 6.5% and financials adding 4.2%. Whitehaven Ltd was the last week’s best performer on the S&P/ASX 200, as company added 26.05% to trade at $0.75. Bradken Ltd, a global manufacturer and supplier of differentiated consumable and capital products to the mining sector jumped by 20% to $0.7.

Meanwhile, the Chinese shares in Hong Kong surged 4.2 % to 21,316.47 last week for the biggest weekly gain since February. Also, on Friday, the NZX 50 Index hit 6,844.74 gaining additional 4.2%.

 

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

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