Asian stocks fell this week, dragging the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index to its biggest weekly decline in three amid Japanese share sales, while companies including Sony Corp fueled profit concerns.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc sank 7.3 percent after announcing Japan’s biggest public sale of additional common shares. Hitachi Ltd, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average’s fourth-largest company by sales, plunged 14 percent after revealing its plan to sell securities. Sony Corp, which makes the PlayStation 3 game console and Bravia televisions, slid 5.5 percent as it pushed back profitability targets.
“What you’re seeing is very much Japan-related,” said Nader Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist at AMP Capital Investors, which holds US$75 billion in assets. “Everywhere else in Asia you have a very strong growth profile, but Japan has a lot of long-term structural issues that still need to be tackled.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index fell 1.2 percent to 116.91 this week, the steepest weekly retreat since the five days to Oct. 30. Seven of the 10 heaviest drags on the gauge were Japanese shares, including Mitsubishi UFJ.
Japan’s TOPIX index slid 3.2 percent, extending its drop to a fourth week. The gauge has fallen 2.4 percent this year, making it the only loser among the world’s 10 biggest stock markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The KOSPI Index jumped 3.1 percent, breaking a five-week losing streak.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to stay in a narrow range in the upcoming week amid concerns over further Wall Street volatility, dealers said on Friday.
Large-cap electronic firms may remain weak as investors fear US high-tech stocks will suffer more declines on uncertainty over the industrial outlook, they said.
Sentiment has turned cautious ahead of the scheduled release of third-quarter economic data on Thursday, which will provide a clearer picture of the local climate, they added.
The market is expected to encounter heavy pressure as it moves closer to 7,800 points next week, while any downside pressure may be cushioned at around 7,600, dealers said.
For the week to Friday, the TAIEX rose 17.34 points, or 0.23 percent, to 7,682.97 after a 2.71 percent increase a week earlier.
Other markets on Friday:
SINGAPORE: Up 0.10 percent from Thursday. The Straits Times Index added 2.75 points to 2,761.54.
BANGKOK: Down 0.74 percent from Thursday. The Stock Exchange of Thailand fell 5.17 points to 695.25.
KUALA LUMPUR: Down 0.18 percent from Thursday. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 2.29 points to 1,274.36.
JAKARTA: Up 0.75 percent from Thursday. The Jakarta Composite Index rose 18.57 points to 2,487.36.
MANILA: Down 0.47 percent from Thursday. The index lost 14.57 points to 3,068.73.
MUMBAI: Up 1.41 percent from Thursday. The 30-share SENSEX rose 236.2 points to 17,021.85.
The navy has installed 13 Phalanx Block 1B close-in weapons systems on its warships, increasing their defensive firepower, a defense official said on Saturday. The systems cost the navy NT$10.16 billion (US$314.67 million), while eight additional Block 1A systems are being upgraded in the US and are expected to be delivered next year, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Phalanx system used by Taiwan to defend its warships and key radar installations is a radar-cued gun system capable of firing 4,500 rounds a minute at targets as far away as 1.5km, the official said. With their superior range of
RACE FOR CHIPS: The Dresden site would help Europe reduce its reliance on Asia for semiconductors, while Germany aims to produce one-fifth of the world’s chips by 2030 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday broke ground in Dresden, Germany, on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions. TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) attended the event, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the heads of Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV and Robert Bosch GmbH, which each hold a 10 percent stake in the venture. TSMC owns a 70 percent stake in the plant. “Together with our partners, Bosch, Infineon and NXP, we are building our Dresden facility to meet the
‘CLOSE TIES’: Former Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda also attended the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security and spoke of Taiwan’s importance globally China’s authoritarian expansionism would not stop with Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, calling for solidarity among the world’s democracies to check Beijing’s territorial ambitions. Taiwan is determined to become a decisive force for democracy, peace and prosperity, standing side-by-side with its democratic partners to confront authoritarian expansionism and protect shared values, he told the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei. Authoritarianism is now a global challenge, Lai said, using as examples Chinese military expansionism, economic coercion and the use of hybrid warfare tactics such as cyberattacks and cognitive warfare. “We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will
RECOVERY: Overall, average income across all age groups increased, climbing to a record NT$709,000 last year, on the back of an improved economy, the DGBAS said Taiwanese workers under the age of 30 last year, on average, earned an annual income of NT$545,931 (US$17,044), a new high, as the economy continued to improve, data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. That equated to monthly earnings of NT$45,494 per person, and marked an increase from NT$535,667 in 2022, the data showed. In addition to an improved economy, average incomes rose as the unemployment rate declined and the minimum wage rose, the statistics agency said. Overall, average income in Taiwan also hit a new record of NT$709,000 last year, up from NT$704,000 in 2022, the data