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
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
RSS