Across the board gains for Asia

Fed fuels risk appetite as quantitative measures seen approaching soon

Asian markets rose today as the recent logic of liberal quantitative measures pushing up the risky assets continued to keep things in favor of the bulls. Positive closing on Wall Street in the previous session following yet another sign of quantitative measures from the Federal Reserve as well breathtaking gains in commodities also supported sentiments. US stocks eked out small gains as the minutes of the September FOMC meeting revealed that a number of Federal Reserve members agreed to consider reinitiating quantitative easing measures "before long”. The major averages were able to recover from early weakness to reach new five-month closing highs with the Dow adding up 10.06 points or 0.1% to end at 11,020.40.



In Japan, the stocks closed on a mixed note with strong economic underpinning the sentiments though the overall movement was tapered on the continued rise in the Japanese Yen and the ideas that the export demand would take a hit given the abysmal global recovery. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index added 14.87 points, or 0.16%, to 9,403.51, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues shed 1.95 points, or 0.24%, to close at 823.

On the economic front, a report released by the Cabinet Office revealed that core machinery orders in Japan jumped a seasonally adjusted 10.1% in August compared to the previous month. The report noted further that, on an annual basis, core machinery orders surged 24.1 following the 15.9% gain in the previous month

The Australian stock market closed in positive territory on steady global cues while a massive chunk of gains in the commodity prices supported the resource driven stocks. All commodities like Gold, base metals and crude oil turned sharply higher today as the Fed's quantitative easing rhetoric spurred mega gains for hard assets. The markets strode higher during the day but turned lower in the afternoon as traders booked profits and the massive gains in the Australian dollar hurt the sentiments. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index edged up 1.70 points or 0.04%, to close at 4,620 points, while the All-Ordinaries Index added 4.80 points or 0.10% to end at 4,691.

On the economic front, results of a new survey conducted jointly by the Westpac Bank and the Melbourne Institute revealed that consumer confidence in the country rebounded in October following the Reserve Bank of Australia's surprise decision to keep rates unchanged for a fifth straight month. The general sense of consumers turned upbeat after the hiking spree ended, making it act as a welcome sign.

In China, the stocks recovered in volatile trade after data showed the nation's trade surplus narrowed to $16.88 billion in September 2010 from a $20.03 billion surplus in August 2010. The trade surplus for September 2010 was below economists' expectations for a $18.5 billion surplus. Although export growth slowed from a year earlier, they were still up 4.1% on-month, while imports rose 7.4% to reach a historic high, suggesting the economy continued to grow at a reasonable pace. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index added 19.95 points or 0.70% to close at 2861.36, maintaining its supreme touch after breaking above the key resistance level of 2600 points.

In Mumbai, the key benchmark indices surged as world stocks rose on growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve will take further measures to boost the slowing economic recovery. As per provisional figures, the BSE 30-share Sensex was up 469.24 points or 2.32% to 20,672.58. The S&P CNX Nifty added 140.60 points or 2.31% to 6,231.50, as per provisional figures.

In other markets, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong soared 1.45%, the Straits Times index in Singapore added 1.68% while the TSEC index in Taiwan edged higher by 0.20%. The Dollar dropped near 1.4000 levels against the Euro before gaining somewhat in the London trades and looks mostly weak going into the New York trades. Commodities rallied. Gold snapped up fresh highs above $1360 per ounce while Crude oil also jumped hitting highs near $83 per barrel mark.