Asian stocks fell this week, dragging the benchmark index to its biggest weekly decline in three months, on concern widening credit losses and rising fuel costs will hurt company earnings.
Macquarie Group Ltd, Australia’s largest securities company, declined after saying a 16-year streak of rising profits may be ending. Korean Air Lines Co slipped as prices of crude oil and jet fuel climbed to records.
“The credit-crunch concern hasn’t totally gone away,” said Marc Desmidt, Tokyo-based chief investment officer at BlackRock Japan Co, whose parent has about US$1 trillion in assets. “There’s an ongoing debate on the direction of oil prices, and so far the bulls have it right.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index lost 2.1 percent to 150.54 this week. Financial stocks declined 4.4 percent, the most among the index’s 10 industry groups, while energy companies rose 0.7 percent, the only group that gained.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average retreated 1.5 percent to 14,012.20. Benchmarks around the region fell in most markets. China’s CSI 300 Index had its worst week in five. Pakistan’s KSE 100 Index tumbled 8.8 percent after the central bank raised interest rates to tame inflation at a 25-year high. Vietnam’s VN Index slumped for 15 days straight to its lowest since August 2006.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific is down 4.6 percent this year amid speculation mounting credit losses and a slowdown in the U.S. economy will hurt profit growth. Banks and brokerages worldwide have declared US$382.6 billion of losses and writedowns tied to credit-market investments.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to extend losses next week as market sentiment has been dampened by worries over soaring international crude oil prices, dealers said on Friday.
Concerns over Wall Street performances amid fears of a US economic recession are likely to further impact on local market movements by prompting foreign institutional investors to sell, they said.
Market bears could continue to target the bellwether electronic sector which remains undervalued.
For the week to Friday, the TAIEX closed down 362.68 points, or 3.94 percent, for the week, after a 4.61 percent rise a week earlier.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices on Friday closed 1.92 percent lower from the previous day, dealers said.
The weighted index closed down 173.30 points at the day’s low of 8,834.73 on turnover of NT$148.28 billion.
TOKYO
Japanese shares closed narrowly mixed as investors turned cautious ahead of the weekend, amid ongoing jitters about the outlook for the US economy and world oil prices, dealers said.
The Nikkei-225 gained 33.74 points or 0.24 percent to end at 14,012.20. The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares slipped 2.98 points or 0.22 percent to 1,376.69.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed 1.31 percent lower, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed down 329.05 points, at 24,714.07.
SYDNEY
Australian shares dropped 1.0 percent, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 58.9 points to close at 5,768.0 and the broader All Ordinaries shed 53.8 points to 5,866.2.
SHANGHAI
Chinese share prices closed down 0.36 percent, dealers said.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, dropped 12.54 points at 3,473.09, ending the week down 4.2 percent.
The Shanghai A-share Index lost 0.36 percent at 3,644.39. The Shenzhen A-share Index fell 1.12 percent at 1,105.06 .
The Shanghai B-share Index lost 0.67 percent to 245.20. The Shenzhen B-share Index was down 0.7 percent at 535.98.
SEOUL
South Korean shares closed 0.4 percent lower, analysts said.
The KOSPI index ended down 7.48 points at 1,827.94.
SINGAPORE
Singapore share prices closed 1.22 percent lower, dealers said.
The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 38.71 points to 3,122.15.
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian share prices closed 0.2 percent lower, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 2.79 points at 1,274.78.
MANILA
Philippine share prices closed 0.4 percent higher, dealers said. The composite index rose 10.70 points to 2,849.28. The all-share index edged up 1.89 points or 0.1 percent at 1,754.76.
MUMBAI
Indian share prices closed down 1.52 percent, dealers said.
The benchmark 30-share SENSEX fell 257.47 points to 16,649.64.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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