Asia: Nikkei little changed as profit takers move in

Date: Monday 02 Jul 2012

Shares in Japan closed Monday's session little changed following Chinese and Japanese manufacturing data and as the previous session's rally petered out.

Stocks in Tokyo enjoyed decent gains on Friday after headway was made at the EU Summit in Brussels. However by Monday profit takers moved in on exporters and focus turned to China's purchasing managers' index (PMI), which fell from 50.4 to 50.2 last month, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing showed. Consenus was around 49.9.

Losses in Japan came despite the central bank's Tankan survey, which showed business sentiment was improving. The sentiment index improved to minus one between April to June, from minus four in the previous quarter.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Japan retreated 3 points at 9,003 in Tokyo. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was closed for a holiday on Monday.

Honda, Toyota and Fanuc endured profit taking in lighter than usual trade on Monday with the Hang Seng closed for a holiday and ahead of the July 4 Independence Day holiday in the US.

However commodity related stocks enjoyed gains as the price of crude oil surged 9% in the US on Friday. Inpex rose 0.3% while trading house Mitsubishi Corp added 0.4%.



CJ

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