Asian stocks fell the most in six weeks, snapping a four-day rally, after National Australia Bank Ltd said credit losses may surge and Samsung Electronics Co’s profit missed estimates.
National Australia, the country’s biggest bank, and Australian & New Zealand Banking Group, the third-largest, plunged the most since the October 1987 stock market crash, dragging financial shares to their biggest drop since March. Samsung, Asia’s largest maker of flat screens, tumbled in Seoul.
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the biggest maker of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels in Taiwan, slumped in Taipei after earnings fell short of estimates and Canon Inc retreated in Tokyo after profit dropped.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index lost 2.4 percent to 133.46 as of 7:55pm in Tokyo, the most since June 12 and extending its decline this year to 15 percent.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices may consolidate next week as market sentiment has turned cautious amid fears of a weakening US economy and volatility on Wall Street, dealers said on Friday.
They said foreign institutional investors continue to trim positions to meet fund redemption in the US and that apart from US woes, the market was also looking at oil prices, which remain high despite recent fallbacks.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index closed up 418.30 points or 6.14 percent at 7,233.62. The previous week, the index lost 5.93 percent.
Friday’s 1.82 percent fall compared with Thursday eroded some of the market’s gains earlier in the week.
“Friday’s retreat showed market confidence remains fragile,” Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券) analyst Mars Hsu said. “With many investors remaining on the sidelines, the market is expected to enter consolidation mode.”
Mega Securities Corp (兆豐證券) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said electronic heavyweights may attract most of the market attention as they are about to report second-quarter results.
TOKYO
Japanese share prices on Friday slid 1.97 percent from the previous day, dealers said.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Nikkei-225 index fell 268.55 points to close at 13,334.76, snapping a three-day winning streak.
The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares slid 34.29 points or 2.57 percent to 1,298.28, dropping below the symbolic 1,300-point mark.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed 1.5 percent down, dealers said. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 347.01 points to 22,740.71.
SYDNEY
Australian share prices plunged 3.37 percent, dealers said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index finished down 173.6 points at 4,970.5, while the broader All Ordinaries shed 157.4 points or 3.03 percent to 5,031.
SHANGHAI
Chinese share prices closed 1.55 percent lower, dealers said. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, closed 45.19 points lower at 2,865.10.
SEOUL
South Korean share prices dropped 1.73 percent, analysts said. The benchmark KOSPI index fell 28.21 points to close at 1,597.93.
SINGAPORE
Singapore share prices closed 1.85 percent lower, dealers said. The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 55.00 points to 2,922.91 on light volume of 834.57 million shares.
MANILA
Philippine share prices closed down 0.9 percent, dealers said. The composite index gave up 23.19 points to 2,512.72, while the all-share index lost 13.40 points to 1,580.89.
MUMBAI
India’s share prices closed down 3.4 percent, dealers said. The benchmark 30-share SENSEX index fell 502.07 points to 14,274.94.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
Parts of the nation, including in the south, could experience temperatures as low as 7°C early tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. A strong continental cold air mass coupled with the effect of radiative cooling would bring cold weather to several northern cities and counties, and could even affect areas as far south as Tainan early tomorrow, the CWA said. Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties would experience temperatures below 10°C until this evening, according to cold surge advisories issued by the weather agency. The weather across the nation is forecast to remain
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