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Asian markets seen mixed in coming week

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets should be mixed in the coming week, with little news seen likely to move bourses and thin trading expected because of the holiday season, brokers said at the weekend.

Brokers in Tokyo said little sustained movement is likely before September because of the holidays. In Hong Kong, the market is likely to rebound because prices are low after falls in the past two trading days of the last week, brokers said.

Shares in Taiwan are not expected to take off in the coming week despite the government's stimulus package unveiled on Friday, because of continuing fears over China's missile tests and recent financial scandals, brokers said.

China plans to conduct a second series of missile tests off Taiwan's north coast, starting on Tuesday.

TOKYO: Daily turnover remained low over the past week and the Nikkei average rose by only 51.14 points, or 0.31 percent to close at 16,792.34 on Friday.

Many brokers see trade remaining quiet next week.

They do not expect much movement in stock indices until the summer holidays are over.

"The market will take a breather until early September, when September futures contracts are settled. Until then, people will keep chasing smaller incentive-backed issues," said Shunji Suesada, general manager at Yamaichi Securities.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks are seen recovering next week, following the falls in the last two trading days.

The Hang Seng Index closed at 9,006.93 points on Friday, down 355.90 points on the week, on a combination of worsening Sino-U.S. relations, China's testing of missiles near Taiwan and a report by Moody's Investor Service that the Hong Kong dollar was prone to speculation.

But good interim results expected from HSBC Holdings and Hang Seng Bank next week should bolster the Hang Seng Index, said Simon Gard, head of derivative sales at Kleinwort Benson.

"Given that the results should be okay, the market should recover. It's at the low end of the range now and it should be a reasonable buy at this level," he said. Gard said he sees a range between 8,900 to 9,400 for the index next week.

BANGKOK: Brokers said the Thai bourse is expected to remain in the doldrums next week as investors see no upcoming positive factors to revive sentiment.

"Chances are the market will stay depressed unless some high-profile stocks post bullish second quarter earnings or the U.S. Fed cuts interest rates," a broker at General Finance and Securities said.

The SET Index closed Friday at 1,330.62, 2.03 percent down from 1,358.19 a week ago.

BOMBAY: Indian shares are expected to remain trapped in a narrow range over the coming week as brokers predict profit taking would eat into every significant rise.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange index ended the week with a net gain of 10.03 points. The index closed on Friday at a provisional 3,405.20 points. The 100-share national index closed at a provisional 1,572.13, up 2.97 points from last Friday.

"Scrapping of the US$2.8 billion Enron project by the Maharashtra state has led to fears that some foreign investors may delay investments in Indian shares," one broker said.

Some brokers say the current listless trend could continue until private sector firms begin declaring their six-monthly results in October.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka stocks, which ended the week barely changed despite Monday's bomb blast in Colombo, are expected to open cautiously in the coming week, brokers said.

"Investors still here have taken long-term positions. But they will still want to take a day at a time until something clear comes out of the north and east," said Asanga Seneviratne of Asia Securities.

The Colombo Stock Exchange all share index ended the week at 754.78 points, 2.08 points down on the week.

JAKARTA: Jakarta share prices are likely to be mixed despite a stream of positive six month financial reports, brokers said.

"Prices are likely to be mixed despite a stream of encouraging published financial results as most of the results had been factored in," one broker with a foreign brokerage firm said.

The Jakarta composite index closed at 519.18 on Friday against 513.837 last Friday.

KUALA LUMPUR: The market will likely continue to focus on speculative shares as blue chips have few leads to take them higher, analysts said.

Strong earnings announcements by large companies will underpin the market, but provide little fuel for a sustained rally, they said. "Unless the earnings are really good, you will get continuous consolidation," said one research manager.

The key Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's Composite Index index is seen trading between 1,045 to 1,080 points.

It closed on Friday at 1,054.43, a loss of 16.64 points or 1.55 percent for the week.

MANILA: The Philippine equities market is likely to extend its consolidation mood as investors will remain selective and tentative amidst realignment of their portfolio, brokers said.

"The market will still move sideways with secondliners stealing the limelight from the blue chips," Lisa Joson of Morgan Grenfell said.

Trisha Gutierrez of Abacus Securities added investors will continue to shun large capitalised counters in favour of secondary issues which show strong growth potential.

Chartists projected the 30-share index to fluctuate within a tight range of 2,860 to 2,920 next week.

The market slipped 23.91 to end the week at 2,874.17 from last Friday's 2,898.08.

SEOUL: Non-manufacturing shares are expected to continue under the spotlight on the Seoul bourse in the coming week, while many South Korean blue chip manufacturers will remain weak, brokers said.

"The market will show a gradual rise next week, with the troika (of financials, trading houses and construction counters) leading the advances," Kim Wan-hee of Dongsuh Securities said.

"Many investors, believing the nation's economic growth will slow down from the second half of this year, are turning their interest towards non-manufacturing shares," a First Securities broker said.

The composite stock index closed Saturday at 910.03, falling 7.44 points from last Friday's 917.47. tks and rgds.

SINGAPORE: Shares are likely to move sideways and might drift slightly lower in the coming week on further selling of blue chips on their disappointing interim earnings. brokers said.

Chartists see 30-share Straits Times Industrials (STI) index falling towards 2,050 points before it rallies and others can't see a reason to buy, one broker said.

The STI index closed down 21.57 points at 2,077.80 against 2,110.54 a week ago.

SYDNEY: The Australian share market is seen to gain strength in the short term despite two consecutive days of losses.

The All Ordinaries index closed at 2,127.6 points, down 25.7 points over the week.

Brokers said that the lower finish to the week was on the back of Wall Street falls but provided the Dow stayed reasonably firm the outlook for the local market was still good over the short to medium term.

"The local outlook is fairly positive and providing Wall Street holds up, we see our market as stronger in the short term," said Stuart Smith of Lance Jones.

TAIPEI: Taiwan shares are expected to consolidate, despite the government's move to cut a range of bank reserve requirements starting on Saturday and to raise the ceiling for foreign investment in the stock market, brokers said.

"Fears over communist China's missile tests seem more influential than investor confidence in the government at this moment," May Lan of National Securities said.

The central bank also said it would raise the ceiling for total foreign investment to 15 percent of market capitalisation from the present 12 percent.

On Saturday, the index ended at 4,648.37 points, compared with 4,823.86 a week ago. A range of 4,300-4,800 was seen for the coming week.

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand share market finished the week on a slightly soft tone, with share prices falling in response to a Reserve Bank monetary policy tightening.

Brokers said that opened up the possibility of weakness in shares lasting for up to three months regardless of what happens in offshore markets.

"It's certainly discouraging for equities to see interest rates pushed up," said Don Turkington at Cavill White Securities. "Conditions are going to be that much tighter and the market is struggling in any case."

The benchmark NZSE-40 capital index closed at 2,130.71 points, just 2.2 points higher than the previous Friday.-Reuter