Asia: Broad sell-off

Asian markets suffered a sell-off yesterday Wednesday September 26 after a US Federal Reserve head said the central bank’s huge stimulus plan unveiled this month might not boost the economy as much as hoped.

Eurozone debt fears were also fuelled after a European Central Bank official said it could not restructure Greece’s debt with the regional lender, while tensions between China and Japan continued to weigh on markets.

Tokyo stocks ended at their lowest level in more than two weeks. The Nikkei 225 Index lost 188.84 points, or 2.03 per cent, to 8,906.70, the worst finish since September 11. The Topix index of all first-section issues fell 2.00 per cent, or 15.12 points, to 742.54.

Chinese shares closed at a 44-month low. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 25.12 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 2,004.17. The index is at its lowest level since January 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis.

“There was a lack of buying interest as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the holiday,” Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing said.

“There haven’t been any economic figures that pointed to a recovery in the domestic economy,” he added.

Sydney shed 0.26 per cent, or 11.3 points, to 4,361.6 and Seoul slipped 0.55 per cent, or 10.97 points, to 1,980.44.

HONG KONG: SHARES fell yesterday following losses on Wall Street after a US Federal Reserve official questioned the likely impact on the economy of the bank’s recent stimulus plan.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 170.95 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 20,527.73.
Profit margins in China and Hong Kong are expected to remain under pressure through the rest of the year, with a mild recovery expected only next year, Credit Suisse said.
“Any way we slice it, growth trends are sliding,” said Credit Suisse analyst Karim Salamatian, the Hong Kong-based regional head of Credit Suisse’s consumer research team.

SINGAPORE: MOST Southeast Asian stock markets fell yesterday, tracking larger regional markets amid concerns about debt problems in Europe, with Thailand hitting a one-week low.
In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times Index closed 0.67 per cent, or 20.45 points, lower at 3,046.68.
SingTel tumbled 3.90 per cent to S$3.20 after state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings said it will cut its stake in the local telecom giant to 51.9 per cent from 54.4 per cent. DBS Bank was off 0.83 per cent to Sg$14.26.

KUALA LUMPUR: SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday in tandem with losses on regional markets burdened by concerns over the eurozone debt crisis, as well as doubts that stimulus initiatives by policymakers worldwide was enough to spur growth, dealers said.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI), however, gained 0.72 point to 1,619.30, driven by the recovery in share prices of select heavyweights. The dealers said investor sentiment on global markets was also dampened by weak business confidence in Germany.
Dealers are also anticipating that the 2013 Budget announcement tomorrow will have a neutral impact on the market, as the government is committed to reining in the budget deficit.
Decliners beat gainers 374 to 283 with 342 counters unchanged, 641 untraded and 32 others were suspended.
Of the actives, Ingenuity Solutions earned 0.5 sen to 10 sen, Ingenuity Solutions-Wa 2011/16 added one sen to 6.5 sen and Scomi Group was down 0.5 sen to 37.5 sen while IJM Corporation lost 22 sen to RM4.53.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank lost 5 sen to RM8.95, Sime Darby improved 3 sen to RM9.79, CIMB Group increased 2 sen to RM7.38 and Axiata Group rose 4 sen to RM6.34.
Meanwhile, FBM KLCI futures closed higher in tandem with the recovery in share prices of major heavyweights on the cash market, dealers said.
September 2012 rose 1.50 points to 1,618, October 2012 gained 2.50 points to 1,620.50, December 2012 added two points to 1,619 and March 2013 rose 0.50 point to 1,615.
Turnover decreased to 17,027 lots from 30,614 lots while open interest slipped to 46,308 contracts from 60,088 contracts recorded previously.

In other markets:

* Taipei fell 0.83 per cent, or 64.50 points, to 7,669.63.

* Manila closed 0.61 per cent lower, losing 32.54 points to 5,292.63.

* Jakarta fell 1.11 per cent, or 46.72 points, to 4,180.16.

* Bangkok eased 1.00 per cent, or 12.91 points, to 1,274.50.

* Mumbai slid 0.33 per cent, or 62.24 points, to 18,632.17.

VIETNAM: Vietnamese shares closed higher today as local investors bottom fished after the market fell to all time low on the HNX and share prices looked attractive on the HOSE.
The benchmark VN Index added 3.35 points or 0.85% to 395.12. Volume was almost unchanged with 23.8 million shares worth of VND390.45 billion.
Put through trading contributed 1.7 million shares worth of VND40.25 billion.
Today’s market breadth turned positive on the primary bourse where 142 stocks advanced, 76 declined, 67 closed unchanged.
The VN30 added 3.71 points or 0.81%, to 460.23. Among its 30 members 19 gained, 6 lost the ground and 5 unchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX added 0.07 point or 0.12% to 56.29.Trading volume rose 26.6% to 21.44 million shares worth VND149.72 billion.
The market breadth turned positive where 135 rallied, 54 declined, 70 closed unmoved, the rest untraded.
The HNX30 edged up 0.77 point or 0.74% to 105.69. Of its 30 member, 18 gained, 10 unchanged, 2 lost.

EUROPE:  LONDON European stock markets and the euro slumped yesterday as investors increasingly anticipated a full bailout of Spain, and owing to a loss of confidence in the US Federal Reserve’s latest stimulus plan.
Madrid’s IBEX 35 index tumbled 3.16 per cent to stand at 7,915.7 points in early afternoon trading, while London’s FTSE 100 shed 1.17 per cent to 5,790.96.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 lost 1.62 per cent to 7,305.36 points and Paris’ CAC 40 dived 2.06 per cent to 3,441.30.
The FTSEurofirst 300 had 14.5 shed points, or 1.3 per cent, to 1,105.29 by 1035 GMT.
“Markets have realised that, despite reducing a large number of tail risks, the ECB’s (European Central Bank bond-buying) programme is not the solution to all the problems in the euro area,” Investec analyst Philip Shaw said.

AMERICA: A mixed report about the housing market and unrest in Europe on Wednesday extended the longest losing streak for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index since mid-July. Other risky assets, like European stocks and oil, fell more sharply.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 44.04 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,413.51.

The S&P 500 index fell 8.27, or 0.6 percent, to 1,433.32.

The Nasdaq composite average fell 24.03 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,093.70.

For the week:

The Dow is down 165.96, or 1.2 percent.

The S&P 500 is down 26.83, or 1.8 percent.

The Nasdaq is down 86.26, or 2.7 percent.

For the year:

The Dow is up 1,195.95, or 9.8 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 175.72, or 14 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 488.55, or 18.75 percent.

Benchmark Currency Rates

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.2869	0.0129	1.6177	1.0644	1.0157	1.0365	0.1290
EUR	0.7770	–	0.0100	1.2571	0.8271	0.7893	0.8055	0.1002
JPY	77.6600	99.9400	–	125.6340	82.6650	78.8770	80.4950	10.0156
GBP	0.6182	0.7955	0.0080	–	0.6580	0.6278	0.6408	0.0797
CHF	0.9395	1.2091	0.0121	1.5198	–	0.9540	0.9737	0.1212
CAD	0.9845	1.2672	0.0127	1.5928	1.0481	–	1.0206	0.1270
AUD	0.9648	1.2416	0.0124	1.5607	1.0269	0.9799	–	0.1244
HKD	7.7540	9.9787	0.0998	12.5432	8.2537	7.8753	8.0372	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia