Yen rises on Japanese output jump

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The yen rose on Friday, helped by the biggest monthly spike in Japanese industrial output since 1953, while crude prices eased from a six-month high but were still up around $3 this week on expectations of increased demand.

Higher commodity prices this week supported mining and energy-related stocks in Asia, though investors were reluctant to take big bets on increasingly expensive shares until more evidence emerged of a sustained recovery.

Big flows of capital out of Japan from retail investors seeking higher returns overseas could still keep the yen under pressure in the medium term, especially with data showing unemployment rising to a 5-1/2-year high in April.

“The firmness in stocks has boosted Japanese retail investors’ risk appetite,” said Tsutomu Soma, a senior manager in the foreign securities department at Okasan Securities, adding that household investors’ money is also flowing out of the country through pension funds.

Asia stocks ease on nagging U.S. economy worries

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares retreated from seven-months highs on Thursday as concerns grew that rising yields on U.S. government debt could push up borrowing costs and choke off a potential recovery in the world’s largest economy.

U.S. home sales picked up in April, but the positive sign was outweighed by worries that the U.S. government was incurring too much debt as it tries to spend its way out of recession, sending Treasury prices falling along with stocks. (.N)

The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond’s yield hit a six-month high in early Asia trade after U.S. Treasury debt prices came under heavy pressure on supply concerns.

The accompanying rise in bond yields raised worries about a U.S. economic recovery as this would lead to increased borrowing costs for consumers and corporations.

Asian shares hit seven-month high

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian shares rose on Wednesday to their highest level in more than seven months after a jump in U.S. consumer confidence reinforced expectations the global economy has hit a bottom, even if recovery appears fragile.

The safe-haven yen fell, while currencies seen as riskier bets, such as the Australian dollar, advanced. In another sign of improving investor confidence, crude prices pushed to a six-month high above $62 a barrel.

The bolder mood from investors follows a couple of days of caution after North Korea sparked alarm by conducting a nuclear test and launching short-range missiles, and week long fears that the United States could lose its top-notch AAA rating.

“We’re seeing most risk proxies firmer,” said Su-Lin Ong, a senior economist at RBC Capital Markets in Sydney.

Asian shares feel pressure on North Korea tensions

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian shares edged lower on Tuesday with stocks in Seoul down 1.2 percent after North Korea threatened to launch more missiles and while investor doubts about the world economy kept riskier assets such as the euro under pressure.

North Korea further raised tensions after its nuclear test on Monday, though analysts believe the market impact will be short-lived in a region growing accustomed to Pyongyang’s actions

The dollar edged higher against major currencies, but not too far off its recently hit lows for the year. U.S. Treasury auctions this week will test the allure of dollar assets at a time of growing worries about the country’s deficits.

After strong gains in riskier plays such as emerging market stocks over the past couple of months, investors are hesitating over how much further to push the rally, given the doubts about the strength or speed of any recovery.

NKorea says it conducted 2nd nuclear test

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea defiantly declared Monday that it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test — reportedly many times larger than a 2006 test — in a major provocation in the escalating international standoff over its rogue nuclear and missile programs.

The regime also test-fired a short-range, ground-to-air missile Monday from the same northeastern site where it controversially launched a rocket last month, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources. That liftoff, widely believed to be a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology, drew censure from the U.N. Security Council.

North Korea, incensed by the condemnation of the April 5 rocket launch, had warned last month that it would restart it rogue nuclear program, conduct an atomic test and carry out long-range missile tests.

On Monday, the country’s official Korean Central News Agency said the regime “successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense.”

SKoreans mourn death, pay respect to ex-president

BONGHA, South Korea – Thousands streamed to a village in rural South Korea on Sunday to pay their respects to ex-President Roh Moo-hyun a day after he killed himself by jumping off a rocky cliff overlooking his home.

In central Seoul, mourners laid white chrysanthemums — a traditional Korean symbol of grief — and bowed before a portrait of the 62-year-old ex-leader at a makeshift memorial outside the 16th-century Deoksu Palace.

Roh, who relied on pluck and hard work to rise from his impoverished youth in rural Gimhae to become leader of this nation of 49 million in 2003, died Saturday morning. He left behind a note describing his suffering and asking to be cremated.

His suicide, just 15 months after he left office, came as he and his family faced intense questioning about $6 million given to the Rohs during his presidency by a Seoul businessman implicated in a number of bribery scandals.

Dollar extends slide but Asian stocks gain

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The dollar fell on Friday to its weakest in almost five months against major currencies on investor worries that the United States would lose its AAA rating, though Asian stocks headed for a solid weekly gain.

The dollar’s descent was sparked on Thursday when Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook on Britain’s top rating to negative, bringing into focus other AAA-rated countries that are running into higher debt in an attempt to boost their economies with big spending plans.

Although signs of hope in the global economy are helping to support Asian stocks, worries are also growing about the strength of any recovery and whether the shift into riskier asset such as oil is justified.

A weaker dollar is also strengthening Asian currencies, which is bound to hurt the export-dependent continent and further raise doubts among investors about whether a gain of more than 50 percent in Asian shares excluding Japan since early March is excessive.

Quebec company hits sweet note in China

SAINT-HYACINTHE, QUE. — It was tea with Madame Shen that laid the groundwork for Casavant Frères Inc.’s cracking the Chinese market.

Casavant owner Bertin Nadeau was in Beijing on business four years ago when his curiosity was piqued by a photo of a concert-hall organ in a local listing of arts and entertainment events.

Excited, he dashed to the hotel’s business centre and asked the staff to call the dozen or so concert halls listed in the booklet. It turned out that three of them boasted a pipe organ. He arranged a meeting with the manager of one hall who showed him their rundown American-made model purchased in the 1990s.

“If you want to know more about the state of pipe organs in China you must meet Madame Shen, who teaches organ at the Beijing Academy of Music,” the manager informed him.

Tamils crowd downtown Toronto streets in latest protest

Tamils crowd downtown Toronto streets in latest protest

Spokesman: Jackie Chan comments out of context

HONG KONG – Jackie Chan’s comments that freedom may not be good for China were taken out of context, his spokesman said Tuesday, while Facebook users and Chinese scholars condemned the veteran actor on the Internet in a spreading backlash.

The 55-year-old star of the “Rush Hour” action films caused a huge uproar after he told a business forum on Saturday that it may not be good for authoritarian China to become a free society.

“I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not,” Chan said Saturday, adding freedoms in his native Hong Kong and Taiwan made those societies “chaotic.” Taiwan, which split from China in 1949, is democratic and Hong Kong, a separately ruled Chinese territory, enjoys some free elections.

“I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want,” he said.

Hong Kong and Taiwanese legislators lashed out at the comments, with some accusing Chan of insulting the Chinese race.