Japanese shares again in negative territory

European shares were mixed during previous trading week

The European stock markets finished mixed Thursday ahead of Easter’s holidays. The German economic institute, released its monthly business climate index on Tuesday. The index went up to 106.7 from 105.7 in February, beating estimates of 106. Think tank ZEW's gauge of investor sentiment improved to 4.3 in March from 1.0 the prior month but fell short of the consensus forecast of 5.0.

The Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.86% over the week to close it at 335.10 points. Nine out of 19 sub-industry groups included in the gauge edged higher. Almost all 19 sub-industries included in the gauge posted weekly losses, with banking shares plunging the most by 8.3%. Concerning the losses among the companies, biggest grow in value was capped by a French-based company, whose business is to provide the technology involved in secure electronic transactions. The Ingenico Group’s shares advanced 10.64% to trade at 99.50 euros, as Prada SpA group chooses Ingenico solutions for payment in their shops. However, Vallourec SA, a world leader in premium tubular solutions serving energy and industry markets, in turn, showed strong looses, decreasing 16.8% to 5.52 euros.

The British FTSE 100 Index went up 0.2% on week to reach 6,106.48.

US stock indices close mostly higher compared to the previous week

The US stock markets finished the week in the green territory. It was a heavy week for Fed, with five members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) suggesting the next hike in policy rates should come at the April meeting. Following these comments, oil prices slumped while the dollar, in turn, strengthened.

while the dollar, in turn, strengthened. The S&P 500 Index advanced 1.4% on week to finish at 2,035.94 points. Nine of the ten industry sectors in the gauge inched higher, with the industrials stocks jumping as much as 2.4% on week. In the meantime, healthcare stocks were sold off last week amid concerns the shares were overvalued. The Mallinckrodt Plc, a global biopharmaceutical company was the last week’s best performing blue chip company with a 12.4% gain, lifting one of the weakest performing health care sector, as Tredje AP fonden Invests $10,136,000 in Mallinckrodt PLC. However, Transocean LTD, the world's largest offshore drilling contractors, went down 19.9% to trade at 9.38 euros.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 2.17% on week to end at 17,515.73 while the Nasdaq finished last week at 4,773.5048 points, 0.96% up on week.

Japanese shares again in negative territory

Asia Pacific traded mixed in the last week, finishing mostly lower on Thursday, 24 March 2016, following an announcement that Fed officials suggest rate hike as early as April meeting.

Both Nikkei 225 and its broader peer, Topix, lost more than 1% last week; in the preceding week indices recorded almost the same declines. As a result the Nikkei 225 closed the week at 16,892.33 points while Topix, in turn, at 1,354.61 mark. Meanwhile, industries included in Topix divided almost equally, ranging from about –5% to over 3%. Currently, Japanese stock indices are trading near one month lows.

Notwithstanding weak performance of the country’s equity markets, some companies were on the rise. The top-gainer was Y A C Co LTD, company engaged in the provision of engineering solution services and soared 33% to 917 yen during the last five trading sessions. At the same time, Kimuratan Corp and Tsutsumi Jewelry Co Ltd declined 14.29% to 6.00 yen and 10.68% to trade at 2,383 during the last week.

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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