Stocks: Wednesday’s review

Asia’s benchmark stocks gauge traded at an 18-month high as earnings from Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Leighton Holdings Ltd. boosted investor optimism. Japanese shares dropped as a stronger yen soured the earnings outlook for exporters.

Nikkei 225 11,251.41 -117.71 -1.04%

Hang Seng Closed

S&P/ASX 200 5,003.66 +44.67 +0.90%

Shanghai Composite Closed

Commonwealth Bank, the nation’s largest lender, climbed 2.4 percent as retail banking and wealth management boosted first- half profit by 1 percent.

Leighton, Australia’s largest construction company, surged 11 percent after returning to full- year profit and reducing debt levels.

Toyota Motor Corp. slid 1.8 percent in Tokyo as the yen gained against all 16 major peers.

Gree Inc., a Japanese social-network game operator, plunged after cutting its profit forecast.

European stocks advanced for a second day, erasing an earlier drop, as companies from Heineken NV to PSA Peugeot Citroen reported better-than-estimated results and euro-area industrial output rose more than forecast.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.4 percent to 288.27 at the close of trading, after dropping as much as 0.3 percent.

National benchmark indexes rose in 16 of the 18 western European markets.

FTSE 100 6,359.11 +20.73 +0.33% CAC 40 3,698.53 +11.95 +0.32% DAX 7,711.89 +51.70 +0.67%

Euro-area industrial production increased more than economists forecast in December. Factory production in the 17- nation currency bloc rose 0.7 percent from November, when it declined a revised 0.7 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast a gain of 0.2 percent.

Heineken added 5.7 percent to 54.93 euros, its highest price since at least October 1989. Earnings before interest and taxes, excluding some items, rose to 2.9 billion euros ($3.9 billion) from 2.7 billion euros a year earlier, the maker of Amstel lager and Strongbow cider said. That beat the median estimate for profit of 2.85 billion euros.

Peugeot, Europe’s second-biggest carmaker, advanced 7.3 percent to 6.40 euros, its biggest gain since Jan. 4. The company posted a loss before interest, taxes and one-time items of 576 million euros for 2012, down from a profit of 1.09 billion euros a year earlier. The loss was narrower than the 647 million-euro average analyst estimate.

Kabel Deutschland surged 8.8 percent to 69.17 euros, the highest price since its March 2010 initial public offering, as a person familiar with the matter said Vodafone is considering a takeover bid.

Societe Generale declined 1.17 euros to 31.50 euros. France’s second-largest bank posted a fourth-quarter loss after writing down its stake in derivatives broker Newedge Group and setting aside 300 million euros for legal expenses. The net loss was 476 million euros, compared with a 100 million-euro profit a year earlier, the Paris-based lender said. That was wider than the average estimate for a loss of 203 million euros.

U.S. stock indexes updated multi-year highs, but finished trading mixed trends.

Investor's published corporate reports and economic data. Positive start trading today was the result of U.S. President Barack Obama to Congress, which was held yesterday. In his annual message Obama urged Congress to support the government to revive the fallen in the stagnation of the economy through the creation of quality jobs for the middle class. Obama also proposed to increase spending on infrastructure projects.

Despite the preservation of positive sentiment in the market, waiting for the correction are rising. The reason for this is the absence of significant positive factors, which could become the driver of growth. Growth index from the beginning of the year was somewhat excessive and well founded fear of this rate in the future.

According to surveys resource CNNMoney, the majority of respondents expecting investment strategist at the S & P 500 to the end of the year at 1,490 points. After recent gains S & P index has steadily entrenched above $ 1500 and 1490-1500 area is seen as an important area of ​​support.

DOW index components exhibit predominantly negative dynamics (22 of 30). More than others in the share price fell Boeing Co. (BA, -1.75%). Leader with shares in General Electric (GE, +3.76%), which increased due to reports of a company selling its stake in the shares of the media holding NBC Universal.

Sector of the S & P show a mixed trend. Leading sector of industrial goods (0.7%). Below is the rest of the sector conglomerates (-0.7%).

At the close:

Dow -35.79 13,982.91 -0.26%

Nasdaq +10.39 3,196.88 +0.33%