(1888PressRelease)
April 15, 2009 - Asian stocks were mostly higher Tuesday as investors weighed surprisingly strong earnings from U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs against more signs of weakness from the region's economies and companies.
Hong Kong and Australian markets were among the day's best performers, catching up with last week's gains after being closed for a public holiday, but Japanese shares were dragged lower by the rising yen and sharp declines in automakers. Crude oil prices slipped to near $49 a barrel on concerns about demand.
Investors were comforted after Goldman Sachs reported a better-than-expected profit of $1.66 billion for the first quarter, beating Wall Street's forecasts and reinforcing the belief that U.S. banks may be stabilizing but the news was more sobering in Asia.
Singapore's economy spiraled deeper into recession in the first quarter, contracting by a record 20 percent as demand for exports evaporated. The city-state's central bank responded with an estimated 1.5 percent devaluation of the Singapore dollar. In Australia, Qantas Airways Ltd. cuts its annual profit forecast and said it would shed 500 managers.
The Seedorf Luxman & Partners Analyst said “Some markets were held back by nagging worries that global equities, after a huge run-up in recent weeks, are due for a breather since a full economic recovery is still far off.”
Stephen Yang went on to say "A number of investors are pretty sidelined during the earnings season and watching how the results play out before going either way, particularly since the market has risen so much already."
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