Philippine Markets: 07 February 2011

07 February 2011

USD/PhP: 43.63 - 0.14 PSEi: 3880.03 + 7.68
USD/JPY: 82.46 PFINC: 872.52 + 0.52
EUR/USD: 1.3588 BDO: 50.30 - 0.20
GBP/USD: 1.6152 BPI: 53.60 + 0.80
PDSTF3M: 3.6673 MBT: 62.90 - 0.55
Prices as of 4:00pm Source: Bloomberg, Reuters


Asian stocks mixed following US jobs data

Asian stock markets were mixed on Monday after a US jobs report gave a muddy picture of the state of the world's biggest economy, while concerns over Egypt pushed oil back above $100.

Tokyo ended 0.46 percent, or 48.52 points, higher at 10,592.04 and Seoul added 0.47 percent, or 9.71 points, to 2,081.74.

Sydney closed 0.12 percent, or 5.8 points, up at 4,868.5 while Hong Kong fell 0.49 percent by the break and Singapore was 0.14 percent stronger.

Trade was quiet across the region as dealers in many markets returned to work after the Lunar New Year holiday, although Shanghai and Taipei remained closed.

"The trend of a global equity market rise is continuing on the back of a stable recovery in the US economy," Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at Nikko Cordial Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The United States released data Friday showing just 36,000 non-farm jobs were created in January, far fewer than the 148,000 expected.

However, it also said the unemployment rate fell to 9.0 percent of the workforce from 9.4 percent.

Normally such a big decline in the jobless rate would boost optimism over the country's recovery – the rate has been above nine percent for 22 months.

But the government said the fall came after recalculations on population. At the same time it said the low job creation number was because of the apparent impact of huge snowstorms in January, which skewed data collection.

Tokyo's Nikkei was lifted by exporters on the back of a weakening yen as well as merger activity – stoked by reports last week of tie-up talks between Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Industries.

The fall in the jobs rate was enough to send dealers into the dollar instead of the yen, which gave a lift to Japanese exporters.

In Tokyo trade the dollar fetched 82.23 yen, compared with 82.19 in New York late Friday.

The euro gained to $1.3608 dollars from $1.3583, and rose to 111.89 yen from 111.62 yen.

"Encouraging economic data, particularly in the US, has helped to shield markets to some extent... the main impact of Egypt and Middle East contagion continues to be felt on oil prices although we believe this will be short-lived," Credit Agricole said in a note to clients.

Brent North Sea crude for March advanced 42 cents to $100.25 a barrel in the afternoon while New York's main future contract, light sweet crude for March, was up 24 cents at $89.27.

Crude traders have been edgy since the uprising in Egypt began nearly two weeks ago with demands for President Hosni Mubarak to step down.

While Egypt is not a major crude producer, it is home to the Suez Canal, which carries about 2.4 million barrels daily, roughly equal to Iraq's output.

Traders are also concerned about the wider ramifications of the events in Egypt on the oil-rich Middle East.

Gold opened at $1,347.80-$1,348.80 an ounce in Hong Kong, up from Wednesday's close of $1,340.70-$1,341.70.

The market was closed on Thursday and Friday for the Lunar New Year holiday.

In other markets:

-- Manila rose 0.20 percent, or 7.68 points, to 3,880.03.

Aboitiz Power added 1.1 percent to 27.50 pesos and Metropolitan Bank & Trust was down 0.9 percent at 62.90 while Union Bank edged down 0.1 percent to 58.40.

-- Wellington rose 0.58 percent, or 19.59 points, to 3,387.41.

Fletcher Building rose 2.4 percent to NZ$8.23 and Auckland Airport added 0.9 percent to NZ$2.26 but Telecom shed 1.3 percent to NZ$2.21.



BDO UNIBANK INC.

Jonathan Ravelas
Chief Market Strategist
(632) 858-3145

Rhys Cruz
Junior Researcher
(632) 858-3001