Updated on
Summary The dollar changed hands at 78.40 yen against 78.59 yen in New York.
Asian markets mostly climbed on Wednesday, with hopes rising for a new round of stimulus from the US and European central banks, but profit-taking reversed earlier gains in Hong Kong.Standard Chartereds Hong Kong-listed shares fell for a second day following huge losses in London on Tuesday, after the bank was accused by US regulators of hiding sanction-busting multi-billion-dollar trades with Iran.Tokyo closed up 0.88, or 77.85 points, at 8,881.16, Seoul put on 0.87 percent, or 16.43 points, to end at 1,903.23, while Sydney added 0.49 percent, or 21.0 points, to close at 4,312.6.Shanghai climbed 0.16 percent, or 3.37 points, to 2,160.99, but Hong Kong was flat, dipping 7.03 points at 20,065.52 as traders looked ahead to the release on Thursday of key Chinese data including inflation and industrial production.Hopes for US action were lifted on Tuesday following a Dow Jones Newswires report that the president of the Boston Fed said the US central bank should launch an aggressive open-ended bond-buying programme to boost the economy until unemployment begins falling again.The news boosted Wall Street where the three main indices rose for a third straight day. The Dow finished 0.39 percent higher, while the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 0.87 percent and the S&P 500 rose 0.51 percent.Expectations have risen over the past week that the European Central Bank will restart its purchases of sovereign debt to help struggling nations such as Spain and Italy, which have seen their borrowing costs surge to dangerous levels.Hopes for more ECB easing in particular are realistic; something clearly must be done to help strapped borrowers like Spain and Italy, even though Germany is resistant, said Tachibana Securities market analyst Kenichi Hirano.On currency markets the euro, which has been supported this week by hopes for ECB intervention, eased to $1.2375 and 97.01 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, compared with $1.2401 and 97.37 yen in New York late Tuesday.The dollar changed hands at 78.40 yen against 78.59 yen in New York.In Hong Kong Standard Chartered closed 0.50 percent lower, after slumping almost 15 percent on Tuesday following claims by US regulators that it regularly hid forex deals with Iran totalling $250 billion that potentially opened the US banking system to terrorists and criminals.The Department of Financial Services (DFS) branded it a rogue institution and threatened it with fines and the suspension of its licence, which would close it off from the crucial US financial market.London-based Standard Chartered said it strongly rejects... the portrayal of facts as set out by the DFS, which refer to sanctions imposed by Washington on Iran over Tehrans controversial nuclear programme.The denial did little to appease investors in London Tuesday, where it is also listed, with its price diving 16.76 percent, having been down by one quarter at one point. However, in early London trade on Wednesday the bank surged eight percent on dip-buying.Also in Hong Kong flag-carrier Cathay Pacific ended 4.33 percent lower after reporting that it had slumped to a $121 million loss in the first six months of 2012, from a $360 million profit in the same period last year, on falling demand and high fuel costs.Oil fell in the late afternoon, with New Yorks main contract, West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude for September delivery, down 47 cents to $93.20 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for September off 58 cents at $111.42.Gold was at 1,608.57 at 0810 GMT, from $1,614.90 on Tuesday.
