Asian stocks fell this week for the first time in five weeks on concern the region’s central banks would boost efforts to curb inflation and that EU leaders will fail to agree on an aid package for Greece.
Poly Real Estate Group Co fell 3.2 percent in Shanghai on concern local governments in China are stepping up measures to limit land supply. Li & Fung Ltd (利豐), a trading company that supplies Wal-Mart Stores Inc, slumped 11 percent after reporting lower-than-estimated earnings. PetroChina Co (中石油), China’s biggest energy producer, dropped 5.1 percent after agreeing to take over Australia’s Arrow Energy Ltd. Nintendo Co surged 15 percent in Osaka, Japan, after saying it will sell a 3D video-game console that doesn’t require glasses.
“Investors are increasingly jittery about the inflationary outlook and high levels of sovereign debt,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage about US$1.1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd in Melbourne.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index fell 0.4 percent in the past week after India unexpectedly increased its benchmark interest rate on March 19 and as European leaders discussed how to rescue debt-stricken Greece. The index climbed on Friday, on speculation Europe will agree on a bailout.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.6 percent this week to its highest close since October 2008, as a weaker yen boosted the earnings outlook for companies dependent on overseas demand. The market was closed on March 22 for a public holiday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 percent this week, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.3 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.5 percent, South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.7 percent.
China’s stocks fell the most in two weeks on Thursday on concern rising trade tensions will hurt the outlook for exports and the government may further tighten policy to curb asset bubbles.
“We’re worried that the currency issue will lead to trade protectionism, which will hurt the global economic recovery,” said Xiao Bo, Beijing-based strategist at Huarong Securities Co. “Government measures to tame inflation are likely to weigh on the market, especially on the property sector.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index has climbed 3.3 percent this year as improving US jobs data, a Federal Reserve pledge to keep borrowing costs low and a Japanese bank-lending program eased concern that budget deficits in Europe will derail the global recovery.
Taiwan’s TAIEX index rose 38.76, or 0.5 percent, to 7,876.86 at the close of Taipei trading on Friday, the third day of gains. The benchmark index fell 0.3 percent this week, the first decline in four weeks.
Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶能源), the nation’s second-largest solar-cell maker, gained 6.4 percent to NT$98, the highest since Dec. 16. Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光) advanced 6.9 percent to NT$76.20, the highest since Jan. 6.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) decreased 1.8 percent to NT$134. The world’s largest contract maker of electronics may buy three Sony television assembly factories in Spain and Slovakia, the Commercial Times reported, citing a Citigroup Inc report on Thursday.
Hon Hai spokesman Edmund Ding (丁祈安) declined to comment. Sony spokesman Hiroshi Okubo declined to comment which TV assembly plants they are planning to sell or whether they are in talks with Hon Hai.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
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.
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