STOCK MARKET WATCH - Friday, 27 January 2012

[Ghost Dog]

30. Asian Stocks Post Modest Gains On Fed Stance

CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stocks swung between gains and losses before ending mostly higher on Friday as the Fed's decision to provide some policy certainty outweighed concerns surrounding Greece's debt talks. The markets in China and Taiwan remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays. Former U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh said the dovish stance of the central bank and recent policy activism may adversely affect the U.S. economic expansion in the long run. The Fed's latest pledge to keep interest rates near zero through 2014 isn't seen as a 'guarantee' that 'reacquaints consumers with bad habits, ' Warsh reportedly said in a speech in Stanford, California. Tokyo stocks erased initial gains as weak earnings results clouded the earnings outlook for Japanese companies. The benchmark Nikkei eased 0.1 percent while the broader Topix index shed half a percent...

... Commodity-related stocks advanced, with Inpex, Itochu and Marubeni gaining around 3 percent each after commodities rallied overnight in the wake of Fed's pledge to keep interest rates near zero at least until the middle of 2013. Australian shares posted modest gains, as traders returning from a holiday the day before lapped up miners, encouraged by strong gains in commodity prices overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.4 percent higher while the broader All Ordinaries index advanced half a percent...

... South Korea's Kospi averaged finished 0.4 percent higher, with caution ahead of a busy earnings season limiting further upside. Foreign funds extended their buying streak for the 12th consecutive session despite downbeat data which showed the South Korean economy grew at its slowest pace in two years in the fourth quarter of 2011, as Europe's lingering debt problems damped demand for exports from the region...

... Elsewhere, India's Sensex was last trading up a percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite edged up marginally and Singapore's Straits Tims was up 0.8 percent...

/... http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2012-01/22549330-asian-stocks-post-modest-gains-on-fed-stance-020.htm