SAJJAD PURVEZ - Apple and gold spur Asia stocks, currencies

SAJJAD PURVEZ: HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Most Asian markets ended higher Thursday, with the South Korean stock benchmark racing to a record as technology stocks were cheered by Apple Inc.’s results and as commodity producers rose on a rally in crude-oil and gold prices.

Investor sentiment remained positive after solid overnight gains on Wall Street, and was also reflected in the foreign-exchange market as riskier currencies pushed higher against the U.S. dollar. The Australian dollar sparkled, in particular, climbing to a fresh post-float high against the greenback.

Asia Today: Apple Results Soar, Unhurt by Japan

Apple's earnings rose sharply thanks to strong iPhone sales, and the company downplayed concerns about Japan's impact on its supplies, its recent lawsuit against Samsung and CEO Steve Jobs's medical leave. WSJ's Jake Lee and Andrew LaVallee discuss.

“Great earnings numbers from both Apple and Intel this week are giving investors confidence that the U.S. economy is trending up, and for now it’s offsetting concerns over debt issues in Europe and nuclear worries,” said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of the equity division at Nikko Cordial Securities.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock AverageJP:NI225 +1.20%  gained 0.8% to 9,685.77.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 AU:XJO +1.13% added 1.1% to 4,913.80 and South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.3% to 2,198.54.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HK:HANGSENG +1.01%  climbed 1% to 24,138.31, China’s Shanghai Composite CN:SHCOMP +0.65%  edged up 0.7% to 3,026.67, and Taiwan’s main index rose 1.6% to 8,957.65.

Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +1.52%  futures were up 56 points in screen trade.

Several technology-related stocks extended gains in Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei.

In Tokyo, Apple-linked stocks were mostly higher, with chip makers Toshiba Corp.TOSYY +4.49%   JP:6502 +2.16%  rising 1.9% and Elpida Memory Inc. JP:6665 +3.60%  ELPDF 0.00%  climbing 3.6%.

Softbank Corp. JP:9984 -0.44% SFTBF +3.07% , the exclusive provider of Apple products in Japan, fell 0.4% after climbing 3.9% Wednesday in anticipation of strong earnings from Apple AAPL +1.35%  .

Takuya Yamada, senior portfolio manager at ITC Investment Partners, said Japan’s market would likely be capped by caution and volumes will remain weak ahead of a slew of Japanese corporate results next week. He added that earnings from U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices AMD +4.35%  will be closely watched later Thursday.

Chip foundries and iPhone parts suppliers and assemblers rose in Taiwan despite a more subdued earnings outlook for the local firms. J.P. Morgan strategist Nick Lai said that first-quarter earnings from Taiwan tech firms, most of which are due next week, are likely to disappoint due to the supply-chain impact stemming from the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.TSM +4.10%  advanced 1.3% and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. added 1.4%.

In Seoul, the Kospi hit a record as heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co.SSNLF +78.57%  added 1.3% and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. HXSCF 0.00%  surged 7.9%

Sajjad Purvez - Microsoft makes rapid gains in US online video market

Sajjad Purvez - An 800 lb gorilla that is Microsoft could be about to give Google a run for its money in the online video arena according to the latest comScore Video Metrix for February 2011.

Overall the data has a familiar ring to it, revealing that 170 million US Internet users watched online video content in the month for an average of 13.6 hours per viewer. The total audience engaged in more than 5.0 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.

Yet again the status of Google Sites as the top online video content property, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, was shown as they racked up 141.1 million unique viewers. Befitting its market dominance, Google Sites had the highest number of viewing sessions, 1.8 billion, and average time spent per viewer at 262 minutes, or 4.4 hours. However the stand out trend of the month was the leap into second place from seventh by Microsoft Sites with 48.8 million viewers, closely followed by Yahoo! Sites with 46.7 million viewers.

This was nearly matched by Facebook.com who experienced a step up due to the inclusion of an additional video serving location that was not previously credited. It will likely be further boosted in March and April by the addition of major brand video to the portfolio. VEVO, rumoured to launch in Europe, ranked fifth in the cluster of Google rivals with 45.9 million viewers.

By way of showing how far it has to go in absolute audience stakes OTT video supplier Hulu boasted 27.2 million viewers. Yet Hulu lacked in audience numbers it more than made up in terms of business and especially in ad views. In, all comScore calculated that Americans viewed 3.8 billion video ads in February, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.1 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad networks) with 548.3 million ad views, followed by ADAP.TV on 396 million.

Users spent 1.7 billion minutes watching online video ads during the month, with again Hulu as the stand out delivering the highest duration of video ads at 454 million minutes. Video ads reached out to 42% of the US population, an average of 30 times during the month. Hulu also delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 48 over the course of the month.

By way of contrast, whereas the duration of the average online content video was 5.1 minutes, the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes long. Video ads accounted for 12.4% of all videos viewed and 1.2% of all minutes spent viewing video online.

Read more: Microsoft makes rapid gains in US online video market | News | Rapid TV News http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2011031811002/microsoft-makes-rapid-gains-in-us-online-video-market.html#ixzz1Gw4HnLpo

SAJJAD PURVEZ - Sensex Rises 1.3% on Higher Corporate Advance Tax Payment

Stocks in Mumbai closed higher following gains in Asian markets and a rebound in sentiment ahead of the rate decision tomorrow. The ten largest companies by market cap paid 25% more advance tax for the current quarter.

Mar 16, 2011 – SAJJAD PURVEZ - 5:00 PM Mumbai – Stocks in Mumbai closed higher following gains in Asian markets and a rebound in sentiment ahead of the rate decision tomorrow. The ten largest companies by market cap paid 25% more advance tax for the current quarter.

The Sensex in Mumbai rebounded tracking the gains in Asia after the Nikkei index in Japan soared 6%.

The Sensex closed up 191.05 or 1.1% to 18,358.69 and Nifty index added 62 to 5,511.

Of the stocks traded on the BSE, 1,821 increased and 1,106 declined and 95 were unchanged. Among the 30 stocks in the Sensex index, 24 increased and 6 closed lower.

Investors were also in the buying mood after the ten largest companies by market cap reportedly paid 25% higher advance tax for the current quarter.

Banks and real estate companies closed higher ahead of interest rate review by the Reserve Bank of India tomorrow. Investors have factored in an increase of 25 basis points but credit demand remains strong.

Stock Movers

Reliance Industries added 0.8% to 1,044.50 on the news that the energy and petrochemical conglomerate paid 34% higher tax of Rs 1,054 crore.

Reliance Capital gained 1.3% extending two-day surge to 11% after it agreed to sell 26% stake in its life insurance subsidiary to Nippon Life.

Reliance Communications soared 1.7% after analysts estimated that the new loan with Chinese consortium of banks will save company as much as Rs 500 crore in interest cost.

TCS gained 3% after the software outsourcing company announced a contract of several million dollars from Holland based Royal Haskoning.

State Bank of India increased 3.5% after its advanced tax payment for the fiscal fourth quarter declined almost 20% to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 1,900 crore.

HDFC increased 0.2% after the mortgage lender paid in advance fiscal fourth quarter tax payment of Rs 340 crore, an increase of 42% from a year ago quarter.

Auto stocks gained. Tata Motors increased 1.9% after its advanced fiscal fourth quarter tax payment declined to Rs 50 crore from Rs 115 crore.

Bajaj Auto increased 0.6% after its fourth quarter advance tax payment increased 43% to Rs 250 crore.

Hindustan Unilever decreased 1.3% after its advance tax payment for the current quarter declined to Rs 150 crore from Rs 170 crore.

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