Asian stocks fell for a fourth week, led by finance companies and automakers, amid mounting concerns that losses from the financial crisis will increase.
HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe’s largest bank, slumped 24 percent, the most since Oct. 24, after announcing a US$17.7 billion stock sale. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, Japan’s biggest bank, tumbled 12 percent as Citigroup Inc’s stock fell below US$1 for the first time. Honda Motor Co, which makes half of its revenue in North America, sank 10 percent after US auto sales tumbled.
“People haven’t yet understood the full depth of the financial crisis,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management Co, which oversees about US$96 billion of assets. “Should regulators assess banks’ assets under stricter conditions, quite a few of these companies may be effectively insolvent.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index lost 4.3 percent to 71.95 in the past five days. The four-week drop is the longest series of declines since October. The gauge, which has slumped 19 percent this year, on Tuesday fell to its lowest level since August 2003.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 5.2 percent this week, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped 7 percent.
AMP Ltd, Australia’s biggest pension-plan provider, tumbled 21 percent this week as it sought to raise funds. Manila Electric Co climbed 40 percent on speculation its major shareholders are vying for control of the utility. Elpida Memory Inc, Japan’s biggest memory-chip maker, dropped 8 percent on concern a possible rescue plan for the company may be delayed.
Governments from China to the US and Australia have sought to introduce policies this year to ease the financial crisis and revive growth. Central banks in India and the Philippines cut rates this week.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 5.3 percent as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said the country’s economic growth target of 8 percent for this year was within reach. He pledged to increase spending to bolster the world’s third-largest economy.
MSCI’s Asian index slumped by a record 43 percent last year as the credit crunch tipped the world’s largest economies into recession, forcing companies to cut jobs amid falling profits. Earnings estimates for companies in the gauge have been slashed by 48 percent since the beginning of this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to gain further in the week ahead amid active rotational buying as investors short cover their positions after recent heavy losses, dealers said.
A stronger New Taiwan dollar is likely to encourage foreign funds to come in, injecting more capital into the already highly liquid local bourse, lending support to share prices, they said.
Buying may focus on lagging electronic large cap stocks, such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which unveiled plans to enter the biotechnology industry to diversify its investments, they said.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index rose 96.48 points, or 2.12 percent, to 4,653.63 after a 2.71 percent increase a week earlier.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$84.39 billion (US$2.41 billion), compared with NT$62.53 billion a week ago.
“The expanded daily turnover demonstrated more investors were willing to return to the trading floor,” Taiwan International Securities (金鼎證券) analyst Arch Shih (施博元) said.
“I expect bargain hunters will keep showing up to take advantage of recent overshooting. It is possible for the market to challenge 4,800 points soon,” Shih said.
Other markets on Friday:
KUALA LUMPUR: Down 1.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 11.02 points to 858.22 following declines on Wall Street and a record drop in the country’s exports.
JAKARTA: Down 0.1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index fell 1.38 points to 1,286.69 in thin trading ahead of a long holiday weekend.
MANILA: Down 0.2 percent. The composite index slipped 4.14 points to 1,920.16 points after a two-day rally.
MUMBAI: Up 1.56 percent. The 30-share SENSEX index rose 127.9 points to 8,325.82 on bargain hunting as local funds bought index heavyweights, but global economic concerns loomed, dealers said.
WELLINGTON: Down 0.82 percent. The NZX-50 index fell 20.36 points to 2,471.04.
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