Asian market preview 01/02/2008

Sorry for the delay in the posting due to some electricity problem at home and heavy raining prevented me to go to office earlier.

US markets were closed higher overnight after the MBIA rating remains AAA and that eased some concerns from investors regarding the bond insurers. Home Depot also lead builders in the rally after Deutsche Bank AG said shoppers will spend more as interest rates fall and government mails out tax rebates. Dow rose 207.53 pts or 1.67% to 12650.36, S&P500 rose 22.74 pts or 1.68% to 1378.55, while Nasdaq climbed 40.86 pts or 1.74% to 2389.86. Bargain hunters have kicked in while some investors were still waiting on the sidelines for job reports and ISM manufacturing index due later on tonight.
Asian markets may open higher and may rise further today after investors in the US felt some ease last night which led to the 200 pts rally in the Dow. At one time, the Dow fell as much as 150 pts before rebounding back up. Banking sectors and property sectors may pace rally in the Asian region. Crude oil prices slid to $91.70ish per barrel, gold prices fell to $925ish and JPY at 106.30ish. Nikkei futures in CME was closed at 13600, higher than the close of 13435 here yesterday.
Kospi may open higher today following the rally in Wall St overnight and may open around 210ish region. However, with more data coming out of the US later on tonight, some investors may choose to sit on the sidelines and wait for more concrete data regarding the US economic conditions.
Hangseng may rebound from yesterday's losses and may open higher at around 23700ish region. It may try to go up to 24000 today but low market sentiment may limit the gains and nervous investors may want to wait and see for more data coming out of the US.