Asia petchem shares rise on positive China factory output data

13 September 2010 06:04  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Asian petrochemical shares traded higher on Monday on the back of positive manufacturing data from China released over the weekend boosting optimism in a strengthening global economy, analysts said.

“The headline numbers show that the Chinese dragon is stirring and that would give some hope that the (global) economic downturn is still not that bad,” said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist at brokerage CIMB-GK in Singapore.

China’s industrial production rose by 13.9% year on year in August, while retail sales rose by 18.4%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on 11 September.

Consumer prices in China jumped by 3.5%, the highest rise in 22 months, according to NBS data.

The news from China allayed fears that the global economy was soon headed towards a “double-dip recession”, especially after a 11 September report showed that wholesale inventories in the US rose the most in two years in July, Song noted.

“There are still risks given that global growth is still slowing down. But it is still growing – it just depends on how much it will accelerate or decelerate,” he said.

“Our stance is that there could be a possible dip in one quarter next year, but a double dip may not be possible,” he added.

At 11:21 hours Singapore time (03:21 hours GMT), Chinese petrochemical giant PetroChina gained 0.15% on the Hang Seng Indexes, while Japan’s Asahi Kasei rose 0.90% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Shares of other Japanese petrochemical companies tracked the upswing in the bourse, which added 92.05 points or 1.00% to 9,331.22.

Mitsubishi Chemical was up by 0.23% and Kuraray was 1.05% higher, while Showa Denko was up by 0.66%.

Meanwhile in Thailand, shares of petrochemical major PTT and its affiliates - PTT Chemical and PTT Aromatics - also gained.

PTT edged up by 1.39%, PTT Chem was 0.85% higher and PTT Aromatics rose 1.92%. Siam Cement was also up by 0.97%.

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By: Nurluqman Suratman

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