Asian stocks yesterday fell while European markets started the week higher after another rout hit Wall Street, as a highly anticipated US job market update added to worries about the economy.
A disappointing revenue forecast from chipmaker Broadcom Inc added to the negative sentiment, dealing another blow to a technology sector already under pressure over concerns a rally this year might have been overdone.
Taipei’s TAIEX closed down 1.36 percent at 21,144.44.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Nikkei 225 index was hovering at about its lowest level in almost a month during morning trading, before slipping 0.5 percent to close at 36,215.75.
Japan’s GDP grew by an annualized 2.9 percent in the second quarter, revised data released yesterday by the Japanese Cabinet Office showed.
That was below expectations.
Stocks in Chinese markets also racked up losses after worse-than-expected inflation data disappointed investors.
Data released yesterday by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics showed that deflationary pressure continues to loom large, as the consumer price index grew by 0.6 percent year-on-year last month, while the producer price index, which measures costs for manufacturing, was down 1.8 percent from a year earlier.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.4 percent to 17,196.96 and the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.1 percent to 2,736.49.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3 percent to 7,988.10, while South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.3 percent to 2,535.93.
Tech firms again took a hit following heavy losses at their US peers, although bargain-buying helped them pare the morning’s bigger falls.
Taipei-listed chip titan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) dived more than 2 percent, with Samsung Electronics Co down a similar amount in Seoul, while Advantest Corp and Tokyo Electron Ltd retreated in Tokyo.
Center stage this week would be Thursday’s European Central Bank rate decision. The bank, which cut rates by 25 basis points in June, is widely expected to ease policy by the same amount.
Investors also wonder whether the mixed US August payrolls report would be enough to tip the US Federal Reserve into cutting rates by an outsized 50 basis points when it meets next week.
So far, markets imply a 30 percent chance of a large cut, in part due to comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller and New York Fed President John Williams on Friday, although Waller did leave open the option of aggressive easing.
Tomorrow’s expected data on last month’s US consumer prices should underline the case for a cut, if not the size, with headline inflation seen slowing to 2.6 percent from 2.9 percent.
Additional reporting by AFP and Reuters
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS