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Stock markets in Asia, led by the Nikkei 225, kicked off 2017 on a largely positive note despite an afternoon retreat on Wall Street earlier. The major U.S. indices still finished the day with gains after a strong morning session proved enough to withstand the later fallback. Despite 3 consecutive days of losses to end 2016, the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones recorded 7.5%, 9.5% and 13.4% gains for the year as a whole.
The Nikkei’s first session of 2017 finished with a 2.51% gain to add to an overall 0.5% net gain over the course of 2016. With the end of last year marked by profit taking which resulted in December 30th closing at a 3-week low, there was always a significant chance the first session of 2017 would see a large opening gap. The index’s main catalyst was an intraday boost coming from December PMI data, which showed strong expansion following four consecutive months of contraction. Up to a reading 52.4 from November’s 51.3, 51.9 had been forecast by analysts and the fastest rate of growth seen since December the previous year.
Shipping giant Nippon Yusen was the day’s strongest gainer with a return of 6.45%. Speculation that 2017 is likely to be a year of mega mergers between big shipping companies, which have been suffering for some time amid changing market conditions, has led to share prices of peers surging around Asia today. Next was department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, up 5.71% while JTEKT Corp., which manufactures automotive components gained 5.56%.
There weren’t any dramatic losses sustained today in Tokyo but Toshiba Corp. was Wednesday’s biggest faller, down 2.12%. Electronics manufacturer Alps Electric dropped by 0.81% and chemicals and cosmetics company Kao Corp. 0.74% to complete the index’s bottom three.
Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng had a less positive inaugural session to the new year and finished the day with a marginal 0.1% loss despite having opened higher. Energy, property and technology companies were the main presence on the day’s leaderboard, led by China Shenhua Energy with a 3.28% gain. Kunlun Energy was up 0.86%. The second strongest gainer, however, came from another sector with rice cakes, snacks and soft drinks maker Want Want China up 2.82%. Third and fifth spots went to tech companies Lenovo and AAC Technologies, up 2.3% and 1.28%. Real estate investor Wharf Holdings saw a gain of 2.23% and Cheung Kong Property Holdings 1.04%.
The day’s biggest faller proved to be milk and dairy products company China Mengniu Dairy, down 1.33%. Oil and gas peers PetroChina and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were also among the day’s losers, down 1.21% and 0.9% respectively. China Life Insurance was down 0.96%.
