Asian Markets Mixed, Focus on OPEC Meeting

This morning, Japanese stock markets fell a bit despite solid economic data that pointed to a stabilization in domestic demand. The Nikkei and its yen sensitive exporting plays were spooked by another day of the yen gaining strength.

Markets focus is shifting towards OPEC meeting after a volatile and confusing trading session on Tuesday. This morning, Oil is trading lower more than 1% after Russia canceled its participation in the meeting. Yesterday, crude oil soared 3.91% after  report says Iraq will cooperate with OPEC members.

The new concern that weigh on markets is a survey hits four year high which concludes that Italy chance leaving Eurozone over the next year jumped to 19.3%.

Japan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was steady in October at thee percent. This is no change from the report in August. Household spending fell 0.4 percent, annually, in October but at a slower pace than the estimate of a 0.6 percent decline. Retail sales, a separate report, fell 0.1 percent in the same month. Analysts expected the number to contract by 1.2 percent.

The Nikkei 225 closed down 0.3 percent while the Topic fell around 0.1 percent. The USD/JPY Forex market was which was near ¥112 on Tuesday was closer to ¥113 the week before. This sent exporting plays on the Japanese stock bourses lower as they prefer a weaker yen to boost their bottom line.

Across the Korean Straight, the Kospi Composite was flat at 1,979.03. Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 0.12 percent after releasing a statement, yesterday, that it was reviewing a transition to split and become a holding company structure. This comes after US based activist hedge fund manager Elliot Management proposed that the company spit itself into a holding vehicle. This is for ownership purposes as well as operations. The company also announced a plan to allocate 50 percent of its free cash flow to shareholder returns in 2016 and 2017. They would also pay a dividend of 28,500 won this year, up 36 percent from last year.

Looking at the broader currency market this morning, the US Dollar pulled back again to trade near 101.25. It was trading near 101.66 yesterday. The Dollar had been closer to $102 last week.

The pullback in the Dollar gave a chance for other currencies to make some gains this morning. The Australian Dollar rose from 0.74, last week, to 0.7488 today. The Aussie is being boosted by higher prices in metals. The euro climbed from 1.055 to 1.0608 and the British Pound is trading at 1.24 this morning.