Asian stocks were mixed early Tuesday, as sentiment was dampened after
a weak session in the U.S., and investors were cautious ahead of
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before Congress.
Overnight trading in the U.S. was weak as retail sales fell for the
third straight month in June, disappointing expectations for a small
rise, and marking the first three month decline since 2008. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.4%.
Mr. Bernanke's testimony, later on Tuesday, will be scrutinized by
investors for clues about whether the U.S. central bank will introduce
further monetary stimulus to help the economy.
After closing for a holiday on Monday, Japanese investors came back to
work to face a strengthened yen, which touched a four-week high
against the dollar in overnight trading, as expectations of further
easing sent investors away from the dollar. At Y78.85 early Tuesday,
the dollar had picked up from the Y78.68 low it touched on Monday.
The rise in the yen makes Japanese products more expensive abroad,
weighing down the shares of major exporters. Sony dropped 1.9% and
Canon fell 1.1%.
Investors in Japan also had their first chance to react to the rally
in U.S. banks on Friday, with Nomura Holdings up 1.5%.
Japan's Nikkei was flat, while Korea's Kospi dropped 0.3%.
Financials also helped the Australian benchmark etch out a modest
gain, with the S&P ASX 200 up 0.4%, helped by a better-than-expected
earnings report from Citigroup in the U.S. overnight. Commonwealth
Bank gained 0.9% and Westpac was up 1.1%. On the mining front,
Fortescue Metals Group advanced 1.1% after releasing its fourth
quarter production report.
At $1.2278, the euro retained its 0.2% gain against the dollar overnight.
In company news, Japanese energy firm JX Holdings dropped 5.7% after
it announced that safety inspection records for gas tanks at one of
its domestic refineries had been falsified.
Write to Daniel Inman at Daniel.Inman@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 16, 2012 21:55 ET (01:55 GMT)
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