SENTIMENTS STILL JITTERY

Stocks were mostly up in Asia but the gains were limited as the traders were not willing to factor in a sustained improvement in the world economic conditions amid the chronic debt crisis in the European nations. The markets managed to eke out small gains but the buyers lacked a convincing spirit and their concerns were seen to be turning correct as the DOW futures dropped from around 90+ in the Sidney trades to slid into negative zone. The US dollar also came off the lows to quote around 1.1920, pressurizing the broad commodity prices and resource linked stocks in turn.

The DOW dipped sharply yet again in the last session but the investors in Asia drew comfort from the fact that the US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy was unlikely to slip back into a recession. Bernanke noted he didn't think that the U.S. economy would slip back in to recession, saying that consumer spending and business investment seem strong enough to keep the economy growing, though at a relatively subdued rate, according to the media reports.

On the economic front, a report released by the Ministry of Finance in Japan revealed that the country's current account surplus increased in April from the previous year mainly due to a larger surplus in the trade gap. As per the report, the current account surplus surged 88% year-on-year to JPY 1.24 trillion from JPY 660.6 billion in the previous year.A trade surplus of JPY 859.1 billion was recorded in April compared to the JPY 167.1 billion surplus a year ago. This was driven by growth in exports outpacing that of imports. Exports surged 42.7% annually to JPY 5.58 trillion, while imports grew 26.1% to JPY 4.72 trillion.