Reuters: Market News: Nikkei set for gains after robust China PMI

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Nikkei set for gains after robust China PMI Apr 1st 2012, 23:22 Sun Apr 1, 2012 7:22pm EDT TOKYO, April 2 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average is expected to snap a three-day losing streak on Monday and open higher, as stronger-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data eased worries of an economic slowdown and a softer yen underpinned sentiment. The closely watched Bank of Japan tankan survey released before the open is also expected to provide support. Market players said the Nikkei was likely to trade between 10,050 to 10,200 on Monday, after Nikkei futures in Chicago closed at 10,165, up 75 points or 0.7 percent, from the close in Osaka of 10,090. "We're going to see a jump today. The yen is weaker and now that we're in April and the start of the new financial year it's easier for domestic investors to move," said Hiroichi Nishi, equity general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities. "Worries over the overheated market are declining and since 59 percent of stocks on the main board have a price-to-book ratio less than 1, it's time to pick up undervalued stocks," he said. The benchmark Nikkei has a 14-day relative strength index of 62.2, still below the 70 threshold that signals the index is "overbought", after the Nikkei held above the overheated level for most of March. Strategists said China's official PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index), which jumped to an 11-month high of 53.1 in March, up from February's 51 and comfortably ahead of forecasts of 50.5, was likely to support market gains. In Europe, budget cuts in Spain boosted hopes the country could stick to an austerity path, while finance ministers from the 17 countries sharing the euro raised the combined lending capacity of their two bailout funds to 700 billion euros from 500 billion. U.S. stocks closed their strongest quarter in more than two years on a positive note on Friday, led by recently underperforming sectors, including energy and health care. In Tokyo, the Nikkei closed down 0.3 percent at 10,083.56 on Friday but ended the quarter up more than 19.3 percent, logging its best first-quarter performance in 24 years. > Wall St closes stellar quarter on up note > Euro gains vs dollar and yen on Spain cuts > Bonds fall to end worst quarter since Q4 2010 > Gold rises on bargain hunting; open interest sinks > Oil ends quarter up 14 pct on Iran, supply problems STOCKS TO WATCH -- PANASONIC Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp is expected to shift all production of its mobile phone handsets abroad as early as this summer as it looks to re-enter overseas markets this fiscal year, the Nikkei daily said on Sunday. -- TDK CORP TDK Corp will soon stop in-house production of optical discs for computers and recorders and outsource production to China, the Nikkei said in a report on Saturday. -- ASAHI Japanese brewer Asahi is working to finalise the purchase of eastern European brewer StarBev from private equity owner CVC Capital Partners in a deal likely to be worth around $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said. --MITSUBISHI CORP Trading house Mitsubishi's joint venture has won an order estimated at more than 330 billion yen ($4 billion) from Brazil's state-owned Petrobras to build a floating oil and gas processing facility off the coast of Brazil, the Nikkei said. --WACOAL HOLDINGS CORP Wacoal Holdings, Japan's largest lingerie firm, said on Friday that it will buy Great Britain's Eveden Group for 152 million pounds ($242 million), including debt, to expand overseas. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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