Asian market preview 05/05/2008

US markets closed mixed on Friday and gave up most of its early trading gains. The Dow gained more than 100 pts earlier after jobs report came out better than expected, where employers cut 20,000 jobs in April when the expected number was at 75,000 jobs cut. Unemployment rate also fell to 5% from 5.1% in the previous month. These data indicated that the economy is still contracting but at a milder pace, better than what most people had anticipated before. Durable goods and factory orders also came in better than expected; factory orders increased 1.4% compared to the expected 0.2% increase. This week economic data proved very crucial to the well-being of the US economy, with GDP number, jobs report and also durable goods and factory orders. All the numbers still indicated that the US is still in recession, but most analysts now found more confidence that the recession is at a much milder pace and believe that they can outrun it. At the end of the trading day, markets edged down and it's quite normal for investors to lock in profits ahead of the weekend after recent rallies performed by the markets. The Dow closed up 48.20 pts or 0.37% to 13058.20 and gained 1.29% for the week, S&P500 closed up 4.56 pts or 0.32% to 1413.90 and gained 1.15% for the week, while Nasdaq closed down 3.72 pts or 0.15% to 2476.99 and gained 2.23% for the week. Sun Microsystems was the biggest drag for Nasdaq, slipping $3.69 or 23% after the company stunned investors, reporting loss for third quarter.

Asian markets may open higher again today, continuing the good rally from last week following better-than-expected economic data from the US and also a decent performance by the US markets on Friday. Crude oil and gold prices also rose on Friday with crude rising $3.80 and was closed at $116.32 while gold settled at $856.35. US$ also gained strength against JPY and was settled at 105.39. Nikkei futures was closed at 14200 in CME compared to the close of 14110 here on Friday.

Nikkei and Kospi markets are closed for holiday today.

Hangseng may open higher today around 26400ish after good US economic data, signaling milder economic contraction than previously anticipated. It may go higher and if it can breach 26500 level, it may try to go towards 26700ish. China mainland markets may be in focus again during the day for HK investors to look for trading direction. If Hangseng should fall, it may go towards 26000 and if it can breach the 26000 level, it may go towards 26800. Volatility in the market may still be high with recent rally in the market, investors may find any reason for them to lock in profit.