Asia Stocks Rise on China Services; Investors Watch U.S.

Bloomberg - Asian stocks rose, led by material and energy shares, after a gauge of China’s services industries jumped and as investors watched for progress on ending a budget impasse that has shut down the U.S. government. 

Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia’s biggest gold producer, added 3.2 percent as material shares gained the most among the 10 industry groups on the benchmark regional index. PetroChina Co. climbed 1.6 percent in Hong Kong. Leighton Holdings Ltd., an Australian developer, slumped 9.3 percent after saying it’s unaware of any new allegations or ethics breaches in a statement responding to newspaper reports. 

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.3 percent to 139.12 as of 11:46 a.m. in Tokyo, with nine of the 10 industry groups rising. The U.S. government has been in partial shutdown for two days after lawmakers failed to agree on a federal budget. President Barack Obama summoned the top four leaders of Congress to the White House for the first high-level talks on reopening the government and raising the debt ceiling. 

Obama’s meeting with Congress leaders “is something he should’ve done weeks ago, but it is a positive development,‘‘ Matthew Sherwood, head of investment markets research in Sydney at Perpetual Investments, which manages about $25 billion, said by telephone. ‘‘Investors have been factoring the shutdown in progressively and what they haven’t factored in yet is delaying the resolution to the debt ceiling, and so my expectation is that volatility will pick up.’’

Regional Gauges

Japan’s Topix index gained 0.1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.7 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index lost 0.1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 0.8 percent as data showed China’s non-manufacturing purchasing manager’s index climbed to the highest level since March. Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 0.1 percent, while Taiwan’s Taiex index jumped 1.5 percent. 

Financial markets in China are closed for holidays until Oct. 8. South Korea’s market is also closed today.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 6.4 percent in September, the biggest monthly advance since January 2012. The measure traded at 13.4 times estimated earnings as of yesterday, compared with 15.3 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 14.1 for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Japan’s Topix index climbed 37 percent this year through yesterday, the most among developed markets, amid optimism Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan can lead the country out of deflation through unprecedented monetary easing. 

Futures on the S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent today after the measure slipped 0.1 percent yesterday.

source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-03/asian-stocks-rise-as-investors-watch-u-s-shutdown-talks.html

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 10:50 AM