Australian markets drop for 9th straight day

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Thursday. Among losers on the session, Australian markets were down for the 9th consecutive session, their longest losing streak in more than a decade. The S&P/ASX200 was down 0.23 percent to 5,796.1 while the Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.24 percent to 5,857. During the recent losing streak, Australian shares have collectively lost around A$100 billion in value. On today’s session, commodities shares were lower as metals prices fell but banks saw gains. Other decliners in the region included India’s Sensex, which was 0.84 percent lower to 19,700.82, a loss of 167 points. The Taiex was down 0.95 percent to 8,101.63 while the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.63 percent to 5,151.63.

Gainers on the day included South Korea’s Kospi index, which was up 1.09 percent to 1,723.55. The FTSE Straits Times Index was 2.66 percent higher to 3,139.88 and the Hang Seng Index jumped 2.72 percent, just over 664 points, to 25,144.98. Tokyo’s markets also saw gains. The Nikkei 225 was 2.07 percent higher to 13,783.45 while the Topix Index added 1,330.44 and the Mothers market gained 4.07 percent to 645.62.

Exporters were higher in Tokyo as the yen weakened versus the US dollar. Carmakers, which make from around a third to more than half of their money from US sales, saw gains. Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203.T; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) was up 3 percent to ¥5,470 while Honda Motor (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC) added 3.9 percent to ¥3,220. In the electronics sector, Sony (TYO: 6758; NYSE: SNE) was 2.7 percent higher to ¥5,660 as Sharp (TYO: 6753; LuxSE: SRP) gained 4.5 percent to ¥1,964 after Goldman Sachs upgraded its recommendation from “hold” to “buy”. On the domestic side, the real estate sector was higher. Mitsui Fudosan (TYO: 8801; NAS: MDSFF) was up 6.2 percent to ¥2,130 while Mitsubishi Estate (TYO: 8802) added 6.9 percent to ¥2,450. Papermakers, however, saw declines after several in the sector said they haven’t used the required volume of recycled paper to make their products for over ten years. Daio Paper (TYO: 3880) fell 0.5 percent to ¥853 while Hokuetsu Paper (TYO: 3865) fell 1.9 percent to ¥504 and Nippon Paper (TYO: 3893) dropped 2.9 percent to ¥298,000.

European markets were lower on the session after a key index on manufacturing in the US was lower, showing significant contraction in January over December. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.68 percent lower to 1,373.73. The IBEX was down 0.3 percent to 13,775.6 while the Dax fell 0.78 percent to 7,413.53 and the CAC-40 dropped 1.31 percent to 5,157.09. Despite the declines, the semiconductors sector was up on the session. STMicroelectronics (Euronext: STM; NYSE: STM) was up 2.93 percent to €8.43 while Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX) had the best day on the Dax where it added 5.12 percent to €6.74. Manufacturer Alstom (Euronext: ALO) led the gains on the CAC-40 as it gained 3.13 percent to €132.55. Utilities were mixed. Eon (FWB: EOA; NYSE: EON; LSE: EON) was up 1.73 percent to €144.78 but EDF (Euronext: EEN) dropped 2.52 percent to €75.45. Carmakers were also mixed as Peugeot (Euronext: UG; OTC: PEUGY) added 0.75 percent to €46.75 but Renault (Euronext: RNO) was 2.85 percent lower to €77.97. BMW (FWB: BMW) led the losers on the Dax, where it fell 3.76 percent to €33.29.

Markets were mixed in London, where the FTSE 100 was 0.68 percent lower to 5,902.4 but the FTSE 250 added 0.37 percent to 9.662.6. Homebuilders and property developers did well on the day on both indices. British Land (LSE: BLND) was up 5.16 percent to 968p and Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW) was 6.37 percent higher to 175.30p on the 100 while Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) added 9.99 percent to 399p on the 100 and Daejean Holdings (LSE: DJAN) led that index as it jumped 12.89p to £34.60. Miners, on the other hand, had a difficult time of it. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) fell 4.05 percent to £26.03 while Lonmin (LSE: LMI) was 4.7 percent lower to £32.04, Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) was down 5.2 percent to £11.31 and Vedanta Resources dropped 6.63 percent to £17.60 for the worst performance on the 100. Over on the 250, Northern Rock saw more declines as it fell 7.35 percent to 63p.

In New York, markets were down in early afternoon trade after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress, saying that the Fed is ready to take action to help the slowing economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.12 percent to 12,326.18 after being up before Mr. Bernanke’s remarks. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.95 percent to 2,371.81 while the S&P 500 was 1.65 percent lower to 1,350.59. Besides Mr. Bernanke’s testimony, shares were also lower after the Philadelphia Fed said that its index of manufacturing activity was at -20.9 this month after being at -1.6 in December and on Merrill Lynch’s (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) quarterly report, which showed that it lost nearly $10 billion in the fourth quarter. Merrill Lynch fell $4.37 to $50.73. New data showed that construction starts on homes and apartments in the United States were at 1.353 in 2007, down 24.8 percent from the year before. The only year with a worse decline was 1980, with a drop of 26 percent. Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders reported that builder sentiment is up slightly but still at its second-lowest on record. This news left home builders mixed. By mid-afternoon, D. R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) was 20 cents higher to $11.71 and Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) had added 28 cents to $9.71 but KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was 21 cents lower to $17.93 and Beazer Home (NYSE: BZH) had dropped 55 cents to $5.53.