Asian stocks declined for the first time in three weeks as commodities prices slumped and companies took advantage of the recent rally to sell new shares.
Aluminum Corp of China (中國鋁業), China’s biggest producer of the metal, slumped 8 percent in Hong Kong. BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s largest miner, fell 3 percent. Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan’s biggest brokerage, slumped 17 percent after announcing a record US$5.6 billion share sale. Guoyuan Securities Co (國元證券) slumped 11 percent after regulators approved its plan to sell additional equity.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’d seen the peak of the market for this year because the economic news isn’t going to improve very much,” investor Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday. “The correction in the market has been overdue for quite some time.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index dropped 0.5 percent this week to 117.77. Asian markets have rallied 67 percent since the MSCI benchmark dropped to a five-year low on March 9.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1 percent, while China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 4.2 percent for the region’s steepest decline. Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were among markets that posted gains this week.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to see buying from local institutional investors in an attempt to dress up their books with the quarter coming to an end next week, dealers said on Friday.
However, the upside room is limited as the market moves closer to a strong resistance level at around 7,500 points, they said.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index fell 181.33 points, or 2.41 percent, to 7,345.22, after a 2.58 percent increase a week earlier.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$109.74 billion (US$3.39 billion), compared with NT$116.70 billion the previous week.
“I do not have high hopes about local institutional buying as the interest is expected to focus on small and mid-cap stocks on low valuations instead of large-sized counterparts,” Grand Cathay Securities Corp (大華證券) analyst Mars Hsu said.
Other markets on Friday:
HONG KONG: Down 0.13 percent. The Hang Seng Index lost 26.33 points at 21,024.40.
“Concerns the US Federal Reserve will scale back some of its supportive measures for the economy will weigh on the local market in the near term,” Ernie Hon, strategist at ICBC International Securities told Dow Jones Newswires.
SHANGHAI: Down 0.52 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was down 14.71 points to 2,838.84.
“The fall in large-caps and sharply shrinking turnover shows investors’ sentiment remains very weak and the market has no momentum to go upward in the near term,” said Zhou Lin, an analyst at Huatai Securities.
SEOUL: Down 0.14 percent. The KOSPI lost 2.4 points to close at 1,691.48.
SINGAPORE: Down 0.17 percent. The Straits Times Index fell 4.61 points to 2,662.82.
BANGKOK: Down 0.96 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand fell 6.97 points to close at 721.57.
KUALA LUMPUR: Flat. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 0.67 points to close at 1,217.39
JAKARTA: Down 0.98 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index lost 24.32 points to 2,444.58.
MANILA: Down 0.56 percent. The composite index fell 16.00 points to 2,821.34.
“The US markets are down and its probably also a reaction to the import figures,” for July, Paul Balaoing of PCCI Securities Brokers said.
“Everyone was expecting that by this time, import figures would have improved,” he said.
MUMBAI: Down 0.53 percent. The 30-share SENSEX index fell 88.43 points to 16,693.
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