>Asian Shares Mostly Up; Tokyo Jumps, Yen Drops On G-7 Intervention

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A surge in Japan’s shares led most Asian stock markets higher Friday, as the Group of Seven industrialized nations agreed to a coordinated intervention to staunch the yen’s recent surge, providing some relief as the nation grapples with last week’s crippling earthquake and an ongoing nuclear crisis.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average climbed 3.0%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.3% and South Korea’s Kospi Composite was up 1.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.8% and China’s Shanghai Composite tacked on 0.6%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 99 points in screen trade.

Tokyo stocks rallied on the G-7 news, on relief Japan’s key exporters won’t be hobbled by a rising yen as the nation struggles to cope with last week’s twin disasters. The dollar had touched a new all-time low of Y76.25 early on Thursday.

The yen pulled back sharply against the U.S. dollar after the G-7 statement and as Japan’s Ministry of Finance intervened in foreign exchange markets. Japanese finance minister Yoshihiko Noda said each central bank would intervene in its own timezone. This was the first agreement on joint intervention since September 2000.

“What G-7 is telling us is that they will simply not tolerate a rapid strengthening in the yen,” said Sean Callow, strategist at Westpac bank.

Credit Agricole said in a note to clients: “One could imagine that it was not difficult for Japan to garner G-7 support for joint intervention in currency markets given the terrible disaster that has hit the country.”

“Given expectations of huge repatriation flows into Japan and a possible surge in the yen Japanese and G-7 officials want to ensure currency stability and lower volatility,” it said.

The dollar surged to Y81.72, from Y78.93 late Thursday in New York, and the euro was buying Y115.05, from Y110.58, and $1.4074 against the dollar, from $1.4020.

Buying was spread across Tokyo’s market, with economically-sensitive stocks such as Asahi Glass and Fast Retailing also advancing 2.0% and 6.7% respectively. Among key exporters, Honda Motor added 1.5% and Sharp rose 2.8%.

Sony trimmed morning gains and was up 0.2%. The company said six of its Japanese manufacturing plants, including those making Blu-ray discs and batteries, remain closed and it is investigating whether a disruption in component supply will impact its ability to deliver and make electronic gadgets.

Some traders were circumspect about the Tokyo market’s rise, noting the G-7 action had been anticipated and Japanese officials still have a massive recovery and rebuilding task on hand.

“The problems at the nuclear plant are far from over, and we have a three-day weekend ahead, so it’s hard to keep buying on the weaker yen alone,” said Yumi Nishimura, deputy general manager at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets.

Japanese authorities claimed modest gains Thursday in efforts to tame a heavily damaged nuclear-power plant that has raised global fears of a full-blown nuclear disaster. But radiation levels at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant dropped on Friday, further buoying the Nikko. Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, was up 18%.

In addition to the boost for regional equities from the G-7 move, energy stocks were stronger, aided by the rise in crude oil futures after the U.N. endorsed a no-fly zone in Libya and set the stage for a potential vote on a military move within a few hours.

April Nymex crude oil futures were up $1.59 at $103.01 per barrel on Globe.

In Sydney, Woodside Petroleum added 3.7%, Tokyo-listed Index and Japan Petroleum Exploration jumped 6.3% and 9.7% respectively, and Hong Kong-listed Cnooc rose 1.6%.

Bucking the sector’s gains, Sydney-listed Origin Energy dropped 3.1% after resuming trading following its plan to raise A$2.3 billion via a share issue to reduce debt associated with its A$3.26 billion purchase of electricity assets privatize by the New South Wales state government.

In Seoul, Pasco climbed 3.2% on expectations the steelmaker would benefit from quake-induced supply shortages. Tokyo’s Kobe Steel rose 4.2% and Hong Kong Shares of Monahan Iron rose 3.2%.

Among other markets, New Zealand’s NZX-50 rose 0.3%, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.2%, Malaysia’s KLCI rose 0.3%, Taiwan’s Timex gained 1.3%, Indonesian shares were up 0.5%, Philippine shares tacked on 0.6% and Thailand’s SET gained 0.6%.

India’s Sensex fell 0.9% on political concerns after a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable Thursday suggested India’s ruling Congress party offered bribes to win a crucial vote in Parliament on the U.S.-India nuclear deal in 2008.

Lead June Japanese government bond futures were down 0.04 at 139.66 points, weighed by the Nikkei’s rise and the yen’s sharp fall. The yield on the 10-year cash JGB was down two basis points at 1.22%.

Spot gold was at $1,409.90 per troy ounce, up $5.90 from its New York settlement Thursday.

>Top 10 MarketWatch stories March 7 – 11

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U.S. stocks climbed Friday despite the strongest earthquake to hit Japan in at least 300 years, but the market posted a weekly drop, with the Dow falling 1.03%, the S&P 500 off 1.28% and the Nasdaq down 2.48% for the week.

For all three measures /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 12,044, +59.79, +0.50%) /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,716, +14.59, +0.54%) /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,304, +9.17, +0.71%) , it marked the second weekly decline in the past three weeks.
The Japanese yen rose by the most in at least two weeks against the U.S. dollar and euro on Friday as traders anticipated Japanese investors and businesses will shift more assets back into the yen after the quake.
“The earthquake is likely to spur a large-scale repatriation of yen to fund the rebuild effort,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com. “Japan’s large current account surplus gives it room to sell assets and thus bring yen back onshore.”
“We saw the same action in 1995 when Japan experienced a large earthquake,” she said.
Gold notched a mild weekly loss, falling 0.5% as worries about mideast tension eased a bit.
On the week, oil lost 3.1%, and it settled lower Friday, for the fourth consecutive session, as Japan’s earthquake diverted attention from political strife in the Middle East and North Africa and stoked fears of a drop in demand for oil.
Also please remember to Watch our Week Ahead videos for Europe and the U.S.
Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor
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Huge quake devastates Japan
Japan’s most powerful earthquake in more than 100 years killed at least 1,000 people and triggered rising radiation levels at one of the nation’s several nuclear-power plants, according to reports Friday.The 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time near the east coast of Honshu, about 231 miles northeast of Tokyo.The quake also spawned a devastating 10-meter-high tsunami that wrecked the country’s northeastern coast and set off a series of tsunami alerts across four continents. Read MarketWatch coverage of Japan quake
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Apple starts iPad 2 rollout amid heavy demand
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A hike in output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries may rattle energy markets, but it is unlikely to put much downward pressure on prices. Member countries are debating whether to increase their production, Kuwait’s oil minister told reporters in Kuwait City on Tuesday. A rise would come as the cartel tries to make up for lost output from Libya and quell fears of other supply disruptions elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. Read MarketWatch’s story on OPEC capacity
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Charlie Sheen made almost $2 million for each episode of “Two and a Half Men.” San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito will earn $18.5 million this year for his 78-mph fastball and abysmal earned-run average. Perhaps $56.5 million in stock for the man who saved Ford Motor Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!f/quotes/nls/f (F 14.36, +0.30, +2.13%) , enriched shareholders and did his part in turning around a flagging U.S. industry doesn’t sound all that unreasonable. Ford’s Alan Mulally was awarded more than 3.8 million shares valued at $14.76 each. He also received 884,433 in underwater stock options as well as another 543,000 units that will be converted to stock in 2013. Read MarketWatch coverage of Ford CEO’s big payday
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The typical way most analysts recommend to investors to profit from mergers-and-acquisition activity is to look for possible targets before a deal is announced. But RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy proposed a new way to play the expected boom in bank mergers and acquisitions in coming years — not looking for prospective targets but snapping up acquirers, after they announce a purchase. Investors should “buy the buyers” roughly two days after deals are announced, according to Cassidy. Read MarketWatch story about investing strategy for expected bank consolidation
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The unrest in North Africa and the Middle East is enough to make investors in most industries nervous, but for the luxury sector in particular, it has the potential to become a significant problem. Not only is the industry particularly sensitive to economic expectations — and therefore to the growth worries created by spiking oil prices — it also generates healthy sales from the richer countries in the region, which could come under pressure if the political turmoil spreads. European luxury stocks have clearly underperformed in recent weeks compared to the Stoxx Europe 600 index. Read MarketWatch look at unrest’s knock-on effect on luxury retailers
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This country is a mess: Twenty million people can’t find a decent job. Twenty million live in a home that’s worth less than what they owe on it. Forty-three million can’t afford to eat without handouts from the government. Health care is increasingly expensive and humiliating. Retirement is out of reach. Our bridges and roads are crumbling. Our children aren’t learning. But there’s one group that’s doing just fine: the capitalists, you know, the people who own just about everything, the people we work for, shop for, die for. Read Rex Nutting commentary on capitalism’s tightening grip.

>Asian markets creep higher despite nerves

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Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday, with Tokyo and Hong Kong edging higher due to an easing of oil price pressures, while traders in mainland China went into sell-off mode.

Tokyo’s Nikkei ended the session up 0.19 percent, or 20.17 points, at 10,525.19 and Sydney rose 0.21 percent, or 10.30 points, to 4,808.20, while Hong Kong was up 0.35 percent in the afternoon.

However Shanghai was down 0.15 percent after surging 1.83 percent on Monday, when Chinese officials moved to allay fears of an imminent interest rate hike.

Crude prices slipped after the United States refused to rule out tapping its oil reserves to ease the impact of high oil prices.

The Financial Times also reported that OPEC members Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria were joining Saudi Arabia in raising output to allay fears of a supply crunch.

Their efforts come as markets grow increasingly worried about the possibility that unrest across a swathe of North Africa and the Middle East could start to destabilise oil giant Saudi Arabia.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, fell 70 cents to $104.74 per barrel in Asian trade, while Brent North Sea crude for April dropped 64 cents to $114.40.

“Risk aversion is likely to be the dominant theme until there is reasonable certainty that oil prices can retreat to $90 or below,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told Dow Jones Newswires.

“The threat of a permanent rise in oil prices has hit at a time when equity markets were priced on the assumption of solid earnings growth over the next 12 to 18 months.

“Oil at over $100 per barrel for any length of time is likely to lead to reduced expectations for consumer discretionary spending and corporate profitability.”

Markets got a weak lead from the United States, where the volatility in Libya and the Middle East spooked Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.66 percent, the S&P 500 index fell 0.83 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite lost 1.40 percent.

Gold prices eased slightly after hitting a new all-time record high of $1,440.32 in London on Monday.

Gold opened at $1,430.80-$1,431.80 an ounce in Hong Kong down from Monday’s close of $1,437.00-$1,438.00.

On currency markets, the dollar moved narrowly against the yen, with trading lacklustre.

The euro was supported by anticipation of a likely interest rate rise by the European Central Bank, despite renewed worries about European sovereign debt after Moody’s downgraded Greece and yields on Portugal’s 10-year bonds hit a euro-era high of 7.5 percent.

The dollar fetched 82.23 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, little changed from 82.25 yen in New York late Monday.

The euro bought $1.3986 compared with $1.3971. The single European currency was marginally higher at 115.02 yen compared to 114.82 yen.

In other markets:

— Seoul rose 0.81 percent, or 16.05 points, to 1,996.32.

— Taipei rose 0.39 percent, or 33.96 points, to 8,747.75.

Leading smartphone maker HTC was 1.38 percent higher at Tw$1,100, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co rose 0.85 percent to Tw$71.5.

— Manila rose 0.32 percent, or 12.39 points, to 3,898.87 thanks to strong corporate results.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures rose 0.71 percent to 42.75 pesos. DMCI Holdings surged 4.79 percent to 37.20 pesos. Semirara Mining jumped 5.10 percent to 214.20 pesos.

— Wellington fell 0.30 percent, or 10.28 points, to 3,419.78.

Telecom fell 2.3 percent to NZ$2.10 after a setback in its efforts to lead the country’s broadband Internet roll-out.

Mainfreight rose 2.7 percent to NZ$8.82 after it announced it would buy Netherlands-based Wim Bosman Group. Fletcher Building was unchanged at NZ$8.84.