Stocks surge in Asia

Markets witness a wonderful start to the week

Asian markets recorded good gains today as buying emerged with force following decent cues from the US markets and strong set of economic numbers from China. The US Commerce Department stated that wholesale inventories rose by 1.3% in July, which was substantially higher than the expected increase of 0.4%. The jump in inventories marked the largest increase since July of 2008. US stocks moved up by moderate margins to close out the week on Friday. DOW witnessed steady upside, hitting its best levels in nearly one month. The Dow gained 47.53 points or 0.5% to end at 10,462.77. On the week, the Dow inched up by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 moved up by 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.



President Barack Obama commented upon the likely course of economic policy, stretching out plans to extend tax cuts for the middle class, increasing business tax write-offs, and additional $50 billion in spending on infrastructure projects. Further on the world economic front, official data released from China revealed that the country's trade surplus narrowed in August as import growth picked up at a faster pace and export growth slowed.

China's consumer price index in August rose at its fastest rate in almost two years. Driven higher by China's worst flooding in years, the consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, gained 3.5% from a year earlier and 0.2% from July. The industrial production growth also picked up and all in all, the strong set of numbers are likely to augur well for the global equities in the near term.

The Australian stocks witnessed a very good up move, adding to the recent pile of gains. Strong commodity prices pushed up the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index above 4600-point mark today. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index was up 54.6 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 4614.9, while the broader All Ordinaries Index had risen 53.5 points, or 1.2%, to 4654.2.

In Japan, stocks moved up further as resources and financials added to their recent gains. Bank shares also gained on relief that new global capital standards have ended up less stringent than previously expected. Investors were focused on tomorrow's presidential race for the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. The Nikkei Stock Average went up 82.65 points, or 0.9%, to 9321.82. The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues also rose 3.93 points, or 0.5%, to 837.65.

In Mumbai, stocks rose for a fifth straight session today, enthused by data showing robust industrial output for July last week, positive economic reports from the U.S. & China and the announcement of Europe's Basel III norms for banks that were less stringent than feared.

The markets witnessed a strong start as the psychological 19,000 points level were overcome in early trading for the BSE Sensex. The sentiments strengthened further and the markets closed up more than 400 points or 2.17% higher at 19,208.

In China, stocks were surging right from the start. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 25.11 points, or 0.94 percent to closed at 2,688.32. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 159.36 points, or 1.38%, to end at 11,690.35. On economic front, China's consumer price index in August rose at its fastest rate in almost two years. Driven higher by China's worst flooding in years, the consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, gained 3.5% from a year earlier and 0.2% from July, China's National Bureau of Statistics stated.

In other economic data from the Asian nation, Industrial growth in August increased to 13.9%, up from 13.4% in July. Retail sales of consumer goods added 18.4%, up 0.5% from the prior month. Fixed-asset investment in China's cities surged 24.8% year to date, slowing slightly from the 24.9% increase through July.

In other markets, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 1.90%, Straits Times index in Singapore rose 1.47% while TSEC index in Taiwan amassed 2.55%.

In commodities, crude and copper were seen holding gains throughout the day following weak dollar strong global shares. WTI Crude was last seen quoting at $77.16, up 72 cents on the day