Asian stocks fell this week, ending a two-week rally, as companies lowered earnings forecasts amid mounting evidence that economies are slowing.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell 20 percent after saying bad loans may double and Australian business confidence fell to a record low. Citizen Holdings Co dropped 9.7 percent after cutting its profit forecast. Hana Financial Group Inc tumbled 36 percent after Fitch Ratings cut its outlook on South Korean banks.
China’s CSI 300 Index posted the biggest weekly gain since April, led by steelmakers, after the government announced a US$586 billion stimulus plan.
GRAPHIC: AFP
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index fell 4.7 percent to 82.10 this week, snapping a two-week rally. Financial and technology stocks had the biggest falls among the 10 industry groups.
Japan’s Nikkei 224 Stock Average lost 1.4 percent this week and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 7.5 percent. Most other markets in the region fell.
Asia-Pacific equities retreated on mounting evidence economies are slowing. China’s industrial output missed estimates, while South Korea’s exports increased at the slowest pace in 13 months last month. In the US, the Treasury scrapped plans to buy mortgage assets to focus on supporting consumer credit.
The MSCI index for the Asia-Pacific region has lost more than half its value since the peak in November last year in the rout triggered by a widening global credit crisis that originated in the US subprime mortgage market. That left shares on the gauge valued at 10 times trailing earnings after last month falling to as low as 8.2 times. Prior to the current turmoil, it never dropped below 10, Bloomberg data dating back to 1995 show.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices are expected to extend losses next week as investors remain concerned over a global economic recession, dealers said on Friday.
Fears of volatility on Wall Street are likely to impact the local bourse owing to uncertainty after the US government changed tack on its use of a US$700 billion mortgage bailout package, they said.
Foreign institutional investors may continue to sell the bellwether electronics sector as it feels the pinch amid falling global demand, they said.
The market is expected to test the nearest technical resistance at around 4,200 points next week owing to fragile confidence, while a technical rebound is likely to follow with a cap at around 4,500 points, dealers said.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index closed down 289.63 points or 6.11 percent at 4,452.70, after a 2.63 percent fall a week earlier.
TOKYO
Japanese share prices gained 2.72 percent on Friday.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark climbed 223.75 points to finish at 8,462.39 after jumping more than 5 percent in early trading.
The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares rose 9.38 points or 1.12 percent to 846.91. Exporters rallied after the US dollar jumped against the yen overnight, although the greenback eased back in Asian trading on Friday.
SHANGHAI
Chinese share prices jumped 3.05 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, closed up 58.83 points to 1,986.44.
Property developers gained on hopes that lower mortgage rates would give a boost to weakening demand.
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian share prices closed flat. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was up 1.06 points or 0.12 percent to closed at 881.65.
JAKARTA
Indonesian shares ended up 0.4 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index rose 4.67 points to 1,264.38.
MANILA
Philippine share prices closed 3.07 percent higher. The composite index rose 59.08 points to 1,978.05 points.
WELLINGTON
New Zealand share prices closed 1.39 percent higher. The benchmark NZX-50 index rose 38.05 points to close at 2,767.67.
MUMBAI
Indian shares fell 1.58 percent. The benchmark 30-share SENSEX fell 150.91 points to 9,385.42, at a near three-year low.
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.
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)
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
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,
RSS