Hong Kong stocks end 0.29% lower

HONG Kong shares have ended 0.29 per cent lower after a rally in the previous two sessions was capped by concerns the US Federal Reserve will end its monetary easing scheme earlier than expected.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index shed 67.51 points to 23,331.09 at Friday's close on turnover of HK$77.49 billion ($10.0 billion).

However, the slight dip after rising 3.3 per cent over Wednesday and Thursday was just "a healthy technical correction", said KGI Asia chief operating officer Ben Kwong.

"The two drivers for the Hong Kong market's uptrend - the China recovery story and abundant liquidity - remain intact," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

While fiscal cliff woes have been put off, minutes from the Fed's December meeting show a growing bias towards some policy tightening this year, with some members looking to end its asset purchases during 2013 and others by the end of the year.

The Fed in September unveiled its third bond-buying scheme - called quantitative easing (QE3) - to boost growth, saying it would not stop until the economy was up on its feet. And in December it added to that scheme.

Banking giant HSBC fell 1.56 per cent to HK$82.00, China Mobile slipped 0.87 per cent to HK$90.65 and Haitong Securities fell 3.3 per cent to HK$12.96.

Mainland developer Hopson rose 10.5 per cent to HK$16.06 and bourse operator Hongkong Exchanges also outperformed, closing 2.0 per cent higher at HK$142.60.

Chinese shares closed up 0.35 per cent on their first day of trade for the year, following a near three per cent rise in the previous two sessions.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 7.86 points to 2,276.99 on turnover of 114.6 billion yuan $US18.4 billion ($A17.66 billion).

The index gained 1.96 per cent in this week's two trading sessions - the market was closed from Tuesday for a three-day New Year holiday.

Analysts said sentiment was boosted by hopes for a rebound in the domestic economy after an improvement in manufacturing activity, but investors also expect Beijing to unveil pro-growth policies next month.

Steel makers gained after an industry group said manufacturing activity and new orders in the sector recovered in December.

Luyin Investment Group surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 5.70 yuan while Fangda Special Steel Technology jumped 7.71 per cent to 4.19 yuan.

Construction companies ended higher. China Railway Construction gained 8.69 per cent to 6.38 yuan while China Railway Group rose 5.92 per cent to 3.22 yuan.

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China fines LG, Samsung, 4 others

CHINESE regulators have fined South Korean companies LG and Samsung and four Taiwanese companies on charges they fixed prices of flat panel screens sold to Chinese manufacturers.

The government announced on Friday that LG, Samsung and the Taiwanese companies were ordered to repay a total of 172 million yuan ($A25.91 million) to Chinese customers.

In addition, the companies were fined a total of 144 million yuan.

The Chinese Cabinet's economic planning agency said investigators found representatives of the six companies met dozens of times in 2001-06 to agree on prices to charge for flat-panel screens.

It said that improperly raised costs for Chinese manufacturers.

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Death report as Tas bushfire razes homes

TASMANIAN police say they are not able to confirm reports of a death in a huge bushfire in the state's south that has already destroyed homes, a school and an RSL club.

They say up to 65 buildings could have been damaged or destroyed in the small community of Dunalley, 56km southeast of Hobart.

They include the local school, RSL club, service station and houses, ABC television reported.

Around 15 houses at nearby Boomer Bay could also have been lost as the impact of catastrophic fire conditions in southern Tasmania begins to emerge.

Tasmania Police commissioner Scott Tilyard said no death had been confirmed.

"It really has the status of a rumour at this stage," he told the ABC.

But as a police boat was being sent to rescue people taking refuge on the waterfront at the top of the Tasman Peninsula, damage to property was becoming clearer.

"Reports are of anything up to about 65 buildings may have been impacted by the fire and that is the area where there has been an unconfirmed report that possibly there might have been one life lost," Mr Tilyard said.

Around 50 people were awaiting the arrival of the police vessel to help them evacuate but were safe, he said.

Huge plumes of smoke were visible from Hobart on Friday as the island capital sweltered through its hottest day on record.

Accompanying winds whipped up the two largest blazes that had started on Thursday; at Forcett, near Dunalley, and Lake Repulse near Mt Field National Park northwest of Hobart.

Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) Chief Officer Mike Brown said conditions on Friday had reached the catastrophic level in the rating system developed after the Black Saturday fires in Victoria.

"We reached catastrophic fire danger ratings at times during this afternoon," Chief Officer Brown told reporters.

"I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet.

On a day Hobart hit a top temperature of 41.8C - smashing the previous record of 40.8 set in 1976 - up to 40 fires were burning around the state.

The TFS used its emergency phone warning system to ask residents to leave the affected areas and police said around 80 per cent had chosen to go.

Near Dunalley, the TFS said it was too late to leave the communities of Connellys Marsh or Primrose Sands.

Those at Connellys Marsh were being advised the nearby beach was a safer option for them.

Carlton River Road was considered impassable and Primrose Sands residents were also being told to head to the nearby beach.

The popular Port Arthur tourist area was cut off after police closed the Arthur Highway, isolating the Tasman Peninsula.

The second major fire, which authorities suspect was started by a campfire, is affecting communities including Broad River, Jones River and Ellendale.

Late on Friday afternoon, the TFS upgraded a warning for another fire near Bicheno in that area.

Campers were being evacuated and residents were being encouraged to act on their bushfire plans or leave.

A large grass fire at Epping Forest in the state's north was also causing concern.

A mild southerly change was due in Hobart around midnight after conditions considered worse than 2006/7 when houses were lost on the state's east coast.

The change is unlikely to bring rain but could ignite more fires with lightning strikes, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

"Lighter winds tomorrow and milder temperatures and higher relative humidities will be of help," senior forecaster Malcolm Downing told AAP on Friday.

Hobart hit 41.8C at 4.05pm (AEDT), its highest temperature since record keeping started in 1883.

Authorities say smoke is likely to be visible for several hours and people sensitive to it should stay indoors.

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Nikkei up 2.82% on first trading day

TOKYO stocks have closed up 2.82 per cent on the first trading day of 2013, as the yen tumbles on relief over a US deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and huge spending cuts.

The Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which ended 2012 at its highest level since the March 2011 quake and tsunami disaster, added 292.93 points on Friday to 10,688.11.

The Topix index of all first-section issues gained 3.34 per cent or 28.71 points to 888.51.

"Japan's markets are opening relatively late after the US government acted, and thus they stand to benefit from the news as well as the enthusiastic response from other bourses," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Global markets rallied after the US House of Representatives late on Tuesday passed a deal between the White House and Republicans to raise taxes on the rich and put off automatic $US109 billion ($A104.61 billion) budget cuts for two months.

The deal lifted the clouds of immediate crisis, sending the yen to its lowest level since July 2010 against the dollar.

The dollar rose to 87.73 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, up from 87.19 yen in New York on Thursday afternoon. The euro was at 114.35 yen and $1.3034 from 113.80 yen and $1.3052.

The market is watching the next moves by Congress and President Barack Obama.

CLSA equity strategist Nicholas Smith said: "Thereafter (the) focus will be on who Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe wants to recommend as the new Bank of Japan governor."

Abe, who took office in December, has pressured the central bank to take aggressive easing steps to help drag Japan out of years of deflation and weak growth.

It has spawned speculation he will want someone willing to agree to his inflation target to replace current governor Masaaki Shirakawa, whose five-year tenure ends on April 8.

An equity trading director at a foreign brokerage said: "Players await US jobs figures tonight. There is currently no reason to sell the market, and a good jobs report will fuel more buying."

Friday was also the first trading day for Japan Exchange Group, which brought together The Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange.

"We will aim for Asia's number one exchange that is selected by investors from around the world," the group's chief executive Atsushi Saito said at a ceremony at the Tokyo bourse.

Exporters were higher, with Toyota Motor up 6.36 per cent at 4,260 yen and Nikon up 5.14 per cent at 2,656 yen.

Among financials Nomura Holdings climbed 4.17 per cent to 524 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 3.53 per cent to 3,225 yen.

Embattled electronics firm Sharp fell 2.64 per cent to 295 yen after a report during the New Year break it was considering making a public share offering worth more than Y100 billion ($A1.10 billion) this year.

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European stocks steady after bumper gains

EUROPEAN stock markets have steadied, with dealers digesting the previous day's huge gains after US lawmakers agreed a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

In opening Thursday trade, London's FTSE 100 index of top companies edged 0.01 per cent higher to 6,028.22 points, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 index dropped 0.21 per cent to 7,762.13 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.21 per cent to 3,725.92.

Global stocks began 2013 with a bang on Wednesday after Washington sealed a last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of huge tax rises and spending cuts which would have pushed the United States back into recession, economists said.

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Macmahon get 2nd bid for construction unit

MACMAHON Holdings has received a second bid for its construction business after Indian-based Punj Lloyd Ltd said it was keen to better an agreed deal with Leighton Holdings.

Punj Lloyd said in a statement after the Australian market closed on Thursday its wholly-owned Sembawang Australia subsidiary had made an offer to buy Macmahon's construction operations for $25 million.

Sembawang president and chief executive Richard Grosvenor said the two companies were a strategic fit.

"Sembawang has always been eyeing Macmahon's construction business for over four years now and believe that the time is right to make this offer," Mr Grosvenor said in the statement.

Sembawang said the offer was the subject of satisfactory due diligence and board approval.

Punj Lloyd, an engineering and construction group, was listed on the national and Bombay stock exchange.

Macmahon said in December it would sell its construction activities to Leighton Holdings for $20 million and become a dedicated full service mining contractor.

Leighton owns about 24 per cent of Macmahon and is the company's largest shareholder.

While the effective date of the sale was December 31, 2012, the transaction required shareholder approval, with a vote due to be held at a Macmahon extraordinary general meeting scheduled for February.

Macmahon and Leighton did not respond to requests for comment.

Macmahon closed Thursday's local session up three cents, or 11.76 per cent, at 28.5 cents, while Leighton gained 47 cents, or 2.59 per cent, to $18.65.

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Putin grants Depardieu citizenship

Gerard Depardieu plans to renounce his citizenship over France's wealth tax. Source: AP

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to French movie star Gerard Depardieu, who has threatened to give up his French passport to protest a proposed tax hike on the rich.

"Vladimir Putin has signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to France's Gerard Depardieu," the Kremlin said in a statement on Thursday.

Depardieu said on Sunday a decision by France's highest court to strike down a 75 per cent tax rate on millionaires would change nothing in his highly publicised decision to move out of France.

The government has vowed to push ahead with the tax rate, which would apply to incomes over a million euros ($A1.24 million)) a year, and propose a new measure that would conform with the constitution.

Putin at his end-of-year press conference said he was ready to offer Depardieu - whom he called a businessman and a friend - a Russian passport to resolve his tax row.

"If Gerard really wants to have a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we can consider this issue resolved positively," Putin said on December 20.

Depardieu had previously mentioned moving to Belgium, although he is a frequent guest of Moscow cinema festivals and other Russian celebrity events.

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Lawyers broaden soy milk class action

HUNDREDS of Australians who fell ill after drinking soy milk containing dangerous levels of iodine have widened their class action to include two Japanese companies.

Bonsoy soy milk was removed from supermarket shelves in late 2009 after 10 people, including a newborn baby, suffered thyroid problems in NSW.

Tests at the time revealed a cup of the milk contained seven times the recommended daily intake of iodine.

Since then, about 600 people have joined a Victorian Supreme Court class action against Spiral Foods, the product's Australian distributor.

An amended statement of claim was lodged in the court last month to include the milk's Japanese manufacturer, Marusan, and exporter, Muso.

Maurice Blackburn senior associate Irina Lubomirska said the two companies had ignored warnings about the milk's iodine content.

"We say that these three companies had test results in mid-2006 which showed that Bonsoy contained extremely high levels of iodine, but they did nothing," Ms Lubomirska said.

"On at least three occasions they were contacted by customers expressing concerns about iodine content of Bonsoy and they did not act to ensure the product was safe."

The matter will return before the court for directions on March 13.

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Missing woman left hospital with nothing

NSW police are searching for a 40-year-old woman who disappeared from a Sydney hospital on Sunday. Source: AAP

A SYDNEY businesswoman and mother of two who left a Sydney hospital with no shoes, phone or money has sparked a search by friends and family who are desperate to find her.

Belinda Burcham, nee Sheehan, walked out of St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst on Sunday morning and hasn't been seen since.

"She's vulnerable," step-father Paul Talbert told AAP.

"She's out there with someone, hopefully, or she's gone to their home.

"But who would be keeping her and not notifying someone at least that she was okay or not okay."

The 40-year-old Double Bay resident left hospital without medical clearance prompting a search by police from Kings Cross and Rose Bay local area commands.

"She's looked like she's walked out of there purposely going somewhere and hopefully that is the case," Mr Talbert said.

"When she left the hospital she had nothing. No ID, no phone, no money, no shoes."

Known as "Bin" to her family, she has two children aged three and four.

The entrepreneur and business owner has had careers in pharmaceutical sales and marketing and her friends include Moses Obeid and other well-known business identities.

Many of them continue to comb the Darlinghurst area and surrounding suburbs, showing her photo to anyone who may have seen her.

Her brother works for Telstra and has gotten the word out through his networks while her sister Justine Pye has launched an appeal on Facebook.

"Please, please share Belinda's photo," Ms Pye said in her posting.

Police told AAP the search continues for Ms Burcham and they hold serious concerns for her safety.

Her mother Elaine Talbert was too distraught to speak about her daughter's disappearance.

"We are devastated and hoping she will come back to us," Ms Talbert told AAP via email.

Anyone with information about Ms Burcham is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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India manufacturing at six-month high

INDIA'S manufacturing activity rose in December to its fastest pace in six months, led by strong factory output and a rise in new orders.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) from HSBC, which gives a snapshot of manufacturing health from output to jobs, climbed to 54.7 in December, compared to 53.7 in the previous month.

A figure of over 50 indicates growth in the sector while below 50 points shows contraction.

"Activity in the manufacturing sector picked up again, led by faster output growth and a further uptick in new orders, which led to a faster increase in backlogs of work," said HSBC chief economist Leif Eskesen on Wednesday.

Economist Sonal Varma at Nomura Securities said the PMI data was a good sign for the economy.

"The manufacturing sector after stabilising between July and October began to improve from November and inflation pressures remain under check," she said.

The survey's findings - based on data from more than 500 manufacturers - come after India's economic growth fell to 5.3 per cent in the July-September quarter, extending a slowdown since the start of the year.

The government has forecast growth of 5.7 to 5.9 per cent for the fiscal year to March, which is far below the near double-digit pace India set before the onset of the global financial crisis.

India's inflation cooled to a 10-month low of 7.24 per cent in November, which is still well above the central bank's comfort zone of near five per cent, and Eskesen said pressures were likely to remain.

The Indian central bank, which has kept its benchmark interest rates on hold since April due to fears about inflation, has suggested it may start easing monetary policy in the current financial quarter to March.

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