FILE - This Oct. 25, 2016, file photo shows the New York Stock Exchange in Lower Manhattan. The U.S. stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. EST on Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Republished March 12, 2018 - 9:59 PM
Original Publication Date March 12, 2018 - 8:26 AM
BANGKOK - Shares were mixed in Asia on Tuesday following a lacklustre day on Wall Street. Investors are keeping a close eye on tensions over trade following President Donald Trump's announcement of hikes on steel and aluminum tariffs. Shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong fell as China announced a revamp of its financial regulatory regime.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 index edged 0.2 per cent higher to $21,875.43 while South Korea's Kospi added 0.1 per cent to 2,486.31. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.3 per cent to 31,507.76 and the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.2 per cent to 3,319.12. Australia's S&P ASX 200 dropped 0.5 per cent to 5,965.00. Shares rose in Taiwan and were mixed in Southeast Asia, with the SET in Thailand falling 0.2 per cent.
WALL STREET: U.S. stocks were split Monday as technology companies climbed while Boeing and other industrial companies gave back some of the ground they won on Friday. The S&P 500 index 0.1 per cent to 2,783.02 and the Dow Jones industrial average declined 0.6 per cent to 25,178.61. Almost all of that loss came from three industrial stocks: Boeing, Caterpillar and United Technologies. The Nasdaq composite finished at another record high, adding 0.4 per cent to 7,588.32. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 0.2 per cent to 1,601.06.
CHINA WATCHDOG: China announced plans Tuesday to create a newly powerful regulator to oversee scandal-plagued banking and insurance industries as they try to reduce debt and financial risks. The move is in line with the ruling Communist Party's efforts to tighten control over state-owned entities that dominate industries including banking, telecoms and energy in an effort to make them more efficient and productive.
QUALCOM-BROADCOM: Singapore computer chipmaker Broadcom said in a statement that it strongly disagrees with Trump's order to block its proposed acquisition of Qualcomm on the grounds it raises national security concerns. The decision, announced late Monday, abruptly ended Broadcom's four-month, $117 billion bid to buy Qualcomm — a deal that would have been the largest ever completed in the technology industry. Broadcom's Singapore connections complicated matters, even though the company maintained its physical headquarters in Silicon Valley and virtually all of its shareholders are in the U.S. In U.S. trading, Broadcom jumped $9.06, or 3.6 per cent, to $262.84 while Intel fell 67 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $51.52. Qualcomm gave up 22 cents to $62.81.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 13 cents to $61.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 68 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $61.36 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gave up 12 cents to $64.83 per barrel. It shed 54 cents to $64.95 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 106.66 yen from 106.41 late Monday. The euro fell to $1.2330 from $1.2336.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018