Asia-Pacific equities went down on relatively calm week

European shares continued previous week’s tendency

Equity market in Europe mostly rallied during the previous trading week, being generally affected by news from Japan as well as since oil prices posted moderate increase. Meanwhile, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said there were real risks to doing nothing to push inflation back toward the ECB's target of near 2%. Therefore, the ECB is taking the path of risk reduction, he add.

The Eurostoxx 600 gauge, which represents largest companies from the whole European region, gained 1.7% to close at 342.27 points on Friday’s evening. Energy, basic materials and consumer goods soared the most by 6.8%, 5.2% and 3.6%, respectively. By the way, energy sector rebounded for the first time in three weeks since prices for crude oil advanced on rumors of a meeting between OPEC and Russia. Anglo American Plc, one of the world's largest mining companies, soared 22.3% to 3.661 euros per share, due to the release of the company’s fourth quarter production update. The leader was followed by Abengoa SA-B shares, a Spain-based company engaged in the provision of technological solutions for the engineering sector, added 17.7% to trade at 0.186 euros. At the same time, Melrose Industries Plc, a British investment company diminished 84.4% to 297.30 pence, after it returned around 2.4bn pounds in cash back to shareholders.

Among other market indicators, German DAX added by 0.64% to 9,756 points, while British FTSE 100 soared 3.5% to close at the 6,083.79 mark back on Friday.

US stock market remained broadly unchanged last week

American equity market followed with a tendency of the previous week, spurred almost by decision made by the Bank of Japan as well as with expectations for further action from the ECB in March, and a more gradual US Federal Reserve rate-hiking cycle. Meanwhile, the US economy rose at a modest 0.7% annual rate in the last quarter of the preceding month, reflecting the impact of a strong US dollar and tepid global demand. For the full year, GDP rose 2.4%, matching 2014's growth rate.

For the week ended January 29, the main S&P 500 Index went up by 1.4% to 1,940.24 points. The biggest number of industries accelerated and rose in value during the previous trading week. The gains were led by energy, which added 9.1%, while health care dropped the most by 0.9%. Among the best performing companies, Consol Energy Inc., the US diversified energy producer, jumped 27.02% to trade at $7.94 on Friday’s evening on stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings report. Another company, among gainers was Under Armour Inc-Class A, an American sports clothing and accessories company, gained 20.6% to $85.43 in the wake of announcing their quarterly figures. Among biggest losers, Alliance Data Systems Cosp., provider of loyalty and marketing solutions, dropped 19.8% to $199.79, despite outstanding quarter earnings data.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 3.6% to 16,466.30 points last week, while NASDAQ advanced 2.11% to close the observed period at the 4,613.95 mark.

Japanese equities added on BoJ announcement

Stock market in Japan performed to the upside during the January 25-29 trading week. The Bank of Japan eased its monetary policy. By a vote of 5 versus 4, BoJ policymakers adopted a negative interest rate policy on funds above certain thresholds that are deposited with the central bank. The news came in line with Friday's announcement that Japanese inflation came in well below target in 2015, rising only 0.5%. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan has had a zero interest rate policy in place for many years.

The Topix Index, one of two main stock indicators for the country, jumped 2.8% last week. It is worth pointing out that the benchmark closed above the 1,432.07 mark on Friday. Real estate and other financing business sectors climbed the most, by 14.3% and 14%, respectively. Among best performing companies, Cybernet Systems Co., a research and development company skyrocketed 87.1% to 1,001 yen while Altplus Inc. and Startia Inc. followed with a similar sharp increase of 66.02% and 60.7% to trade at 513 yen and 826 yen. On the other hand, Obic Business Consultants, the company develops, and manufactures computer accounting software in Japan, dropped as much as 25.43% to 4,750 yen per share of stock.

Among other market indices for Japanese share market, the Nikkei 225 also showed a stable increase in its value, by adding 2.6% in five trading days to close at 17,518.30 points at market closing time on Friday.

Asia-Pacific equities went down on relatively calm week

Share markets in the Asia-Pacific were the worst performers among its counterparts, since stock indexes mostly declined. Meanwhile, the limited amount of important releases from the region was made. Markets were mainly concentrated on Central Banks’ announcements, following the Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand rate statements, which posted no change to interest rates. Meanwhile, RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler highlighted that the case for further easing this year had strengthened.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index lost 0.02% to 5,005.50 points, however, all the industries included in the gauge showed a development in the green territory. Among biggest gainers, energy and telecommunications sectors advanced 4.2% and 2.03%. Concerning the winners, the companies which are operating in energy sector proved to be the biggest gainers. AWE Ltd., one of the leading oil and gas producers in the Australia skyrocketed 66.1% to be the major market mover during the period and trade at $0.515 per share on Friday, after a publication of company’s quarter report. It was followed by Arrium Ltd. and Santos Ltd., as they gained 52.2% and 23.44% to $0.067 and $3.16, respectively.

In addition, Hang Seng Index lost 0.75% to trade at 19,683.11 points last week, while NZX 50 gauge of New Zealand decreased 0.41% to close at 6,170.22 points on Friday.

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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