Tokyo extends gains on ECB but Asia traders cautious

Japanese stocks rose again Friday as a weaker yen provided further support to exporters, while the euro struggled to recover after the European Central Bank extended its stimulus package.

Hong Kong-listed casino operators plunged after a report said officials had halved the amount of cash gamblers can withdraw from ATMs in the gaming city of Macau, as China tries to choke off a flight of capital from the country.

Most Asian investors were moving cautiously after a strong run-up this week, while they look ahead to next week's key Federal Reserve policy meeting hoping for clues about its plans for interest rates next year.

The ECB said Thursday it would reduce the amount of bonds it buys each month as part of its monetary easing scheme but added that it would continue the programme to the end of 2017, well past its planned March expiry.

Bank boss Mario Draghi also signalled that the eurozone's fragile economy could count on its continued support.

The euro retreated on the prospect of more cash being pumped into financial markets for some time to come. It was sitting around $1.06 in afternoon Asian trade, having dallied with $1.08 earlier in the week.

While the news helped all three main indexes on Wall Street tap record closes, Asian stock markets took a breather.

Tokyo ended 1.2 percent higher as the dollar pushed up against the yen.

Sydney added 0.3 percent and Shanghai gained 0.5 percent after data showed prices at China's factory gates rose more than expected in November, indicating a pick-up in demand in the world's number two economy.

"China has entered a new inflationary cycle," Raymond Yeung, chief greater China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News. "The next move of the PBOC should be an interest rate hike, not a cut."

- Casinos roiled -

However, Seoul was off 0.3 percent, Singapore shed 0.2 percent and Wellington eased 0.3 percent, while Jakarta lost 0.3 percent.

Hong Kong sank 0.4 percent, with gaming firms hammered by a report in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on China's move to restrict withdrawals.

The paper said that from Saturday the amount of cash China UnionPay bank card holders can withdraw from machines in Macau would be halved.

"Nearly 50 percent of Chinese customers in Macau use UnionPay ATM withdrawals as one source of cash for gaming," Vitaly Umansky, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co, said.

Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment and Wynn Macau all plunged almost 10 percent in the first few minutes of trade before edging back up slightly in the afternoon.

The move comes as Beijing tries to halt a flood of cash that has sent the yuan tumbling against the dollar with investors shifting to the United States seeking better returns as the Federal Reserve plans to hike interest rates.

It also follows a series of measures aimed at limiting mainlanders shifting their cash to Macau as President Xi Jinping embarks on a drive against corruption. 

China had already capped the amount UnionPay cardholders could spend overseas on insurance products earlier this year as wealthy Chinese have been buying up insurance policies in Hong Kong using credit cards.

"Union Pay is the mainland banks' credit card system, equivalent to Visa and MasterCard,” Francis Lun of Hong Kong-based GEO Securities told AFP.

“By shutting that off, that will really close the tab on the insurance industry and the gaming industry."

In early European trade London and Paris each rose 0.1 percent but Frankfurt lost 0.1 percent.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 0.1 percent to 6,938.38 points.

- Key figures around 0800 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 18,996.37 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.4 percent at 22,760.98 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,232.88 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 6,938.38

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0605 from $1.0612 Thursday

Dollar/yen: UP at 114.40 yen from 113.95 yen 

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2570 from $1.2586

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 31 cents at $51.15 per barrel

Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 13 cents at $54.02

New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 19,580.59 (close)

Source: AFP