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Asian stock markets seen drifiting

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets are likely to drift in the coming week in the absence of pointers from Wall Street and the likelihood of thin holiday season trade, brokers said at the weekend.

Sydney, however, should be an exception, with brokers predicting a healthy rise if commodity prices keep firm. The release of U.S. employment data on Friday, keenly anticipated in Asia as an indicator of U.S. interest rate movements, is seen unlikely to give markets direction because it did not point to any clear trend.

But Taipei stocks, which plunged almost five percent on Saturday are likely to be volatile and could fall further unless the government steps in, brokers said. Following are the market highlights: - - - -

TOKYO: Brokers in Tokyo expect the coming week's trade to be generally quiet as many market participants take off for summer holidays.

However, they said those who stay at work will continue watching foreign investor activity and currency movements, both expected to have a major impact on share prices. Foreign buying has been pushing up many high-tech shares such as Toshiba and NEC and will help decide overall sentiment, they said.

Over the past week the 225-share Nikkei average rose by only 91.75 points or 0.55 percent to close at 16,741.20 on Friday.

HONG KONG: Stocks are expected to continue languishing in a narrow range next week amid summer doldrums, with U.S. stocks and bonds to point the way, brokers said.

"There are no fresh local factors so the market will be watching Wall Street, U.S. bonds and indicators for clues to interest rate movements," said a broker at a major local house. "The market has been stuck inside a range of 9,200 to 9,600 recently and there are no major breakthroughs in sight yet to jolt it out of that band."

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 88.86 points on the week to close Friday at 9,362.83.

BANGKOK: The Thai bourse goes into the week facing a host of negative factors which caused a combined 38.85-point plunge last week. But some analysts said the SET Index's 7.7 percent discount since July 10 makes Thai stocks technicallly attractive.

"The index has lost more than 110 points in less than four weeks, which should give it a fair chance to rebound," an analyst at Thai Financial Syndicate said.

But other brokers said investors would continue worrying about a central bank campaign to curb liquidity and tiny trading volumes that hurt the finance sector's profitability.

The SET Index closed Friday at 1,358.19, 2.78 percent down from 1,397.04 a week ago.

BOMBAY: Indian shares are expected to move up in the coming week as market participants renew purchases after a decision to scrap a power project temporarily hampered sentiment, brokers said.

"The market will be strong next week. There is optimism that the government will do something to bail out the project," said a dealer for SSKI Securities.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) index lost 57.71 points to a provisional 3,395.17 during the week. The index had dipped 66.44 points on Thursday following the scrapping of the Enron power project. The 100-share National index shed 29.79 points to 1,569.16 during the week.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka stocks are seen opening firm after closing on an optimistic note on Friday, brokers said.

"If nothing drastic happens over the weekend, the market should open strong on Monday and continue to gain," said Ajit Dias Wanigasekera of CBC Crosby Stock Brokers.

The market rose 4.54 points on Friday and brokers said it was probably due to a glimmer of hope created by the peaceful way in which the country received Thursday's devolution package. The week closed with the Colombo Stock Exchange all share index rising 5.04 points to 752.75 points from last Friday's 747.71 close.

JAKARTA: Jakarta share prices are likely to be steady in moderate trading ahead of the financial reporting season, brokers said.

"Prices are likely to be steady in the coming week on expected stronger financial reports," one broker with a foreign brokerage firm said.

Brokers said conglomerate-related shares are likely to remain among the most-actively traded stocks but players are also likely to pay attention to some secondliners on market talks possible acquisition and bonus share issuance.

The composite index closed at 513.837 on Friday against 512.51 on July 28.

KARACHI: Pakistani stocks may dip further in the next trading week after the Friday-Saturday weekend because of a new wave of violence in the industrial port city of Karachi in which more than 22 people were killed on Thursday.

"If the city situation remains the same, prices could further decline," one dealer at Kausar Abbas Bhayani said.

The 100-share price index was at 1,802.42 on Thursday against 1,724.18 on July 27.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shares are likely to continue trading within narrow ranges in the coming week with the focus on speculative and second-line stocks, brokers said.

There has been a rotational play among the second-liners and brokers expect the trend to continue.

They said the market is awaiting the return of funds from unsuccessful applications for the Petronas Gas share issue. Balloting for the public issue was held on Thursday.

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's Composite Index ended Friday at 1,071.07 against 1,050.67 the previous week.

MANILA: Philippine share prices are expected to move sideways next week due to lack of fresh news on the local front, brokers said.

"The market may be relatively quiet with sentiment being basically dictated by movement in the overseas market," Maria Lourdes Sison at Sun Hung Kai Securities said.

"We could see some upward bias on very selective buying," Noel Reyes at Dhramala Securities added.

The composite index closed at 2,898.08 points today from 2,893.45 on July 28.

Brokers see the index drifting between 2,850-2,950 points.

SEOUL: The market is likely to continue to consolidate in the coming week on institutional selling of blue chips, brokers said.

They said domestic institutional investors have been trying to reorganise their investment portfolio by shifting to other sectors from blue chips, they said.

The composite stock index ended Friday at 917.47, off 15.35 points from last Friday's 932.82.

SINGAPORE: The Singapore stock market seems set to continue its recent fall next week as dealers and analysts react to this week's batch of disappointing first-half 1995 results.

The 30-share Straits Times Industrials Index closed on Friday at 2,110.54 points, 75.33 below its close a week earlier and analysts said it could slip another 50 points before rallying.

Interim results from several Singapore banks and other industrial groups showed only modest improvements and shipyards reported difficult conditions with a slowing in demand for most services. "The market is correcting down and may not stop before 2,050 points," said one chart analyst.

SYDNEY: Dealers expect the Australian share market to continue its upward trend on the back of strong buying interest, providing metal prices stay firm. The All Ordinaries index closed at 2,153.3 points, up 33.8 points over the week.

"Dependent on the U.S. market, our market should continue to perform well with strong commodity prices," one broker said.

"Concentration will be in the major resource stocks," he said. The resource sector has led the recent recovery in the local market. Dealers said next Thursday's unemployment data for July should have little effect on the market.

TAIPEI: Taiwan share prices are expected to test support at 4,675 points next week after news late Friday that an International Bills trader was accused of illegally using more than T$10 billion to manipulate stocks, brokers said.

Brokers expected the government to try to stop further falls. "The recent credit union crisis and the International Bills scandal were all caused by recent stock market plunges. So, the government will definitely try to stop the falls in whatever way," said Michael Hung of Nikko Securities.

"However, a major rebound is unlikely as investors will prefer to step to the sidelines after recent crisis," said Tu Jin-lung of Grand Cathay. On Saturday, the index ended down 4.89 percent at 4,823.86 points, compared with 5,218.42 a week ago. A 4,675-5,100 range was seen for next week.

WELLINGTON: Profit results next week offer the best hope of livening up a dull New Zealand share market, brokers said.

The market drifted for most of the week and the benchmark top 40 index ended just 10.11 points higher from the start of the week, at 2128.51.

Commentary and results from leaders provided some interest in a market suffering from a lack of foreign interest.

"There doesn't look like there's anything that's going to pull it (the market) out of this sort of mode," Charles Batchelor at CS First Boston said.-Reuter