Asian marts fall on weak Tokyo data

Stocks fell in Asia yesterday Tuesday June 29 as weak Japanese data illustrated the fragile recovery in the world’s second biggest economy, while dealers cautiously await key data out of the US and Tokyo.

And Chinese and Hong Kong stocks tumbled on growing fears over market sentiment after the last of China’s “big four” state banks priced its initial public offering in Shanghai below expectations.

TOKYO fell 1.27 percent, or 123.27 points, to close at 9,570.67.

SYDNEY was 0.88 percent, or 38.8 points, lower to end at 4,345.7.

SEOUL finished 1.40 percent, or 24.27 points, lower at 1,707.76.

The US will on Friday release non-farm payroll data with many fearing a poor figure could suggest a jobless recovery and the possibility of a double-dip recession.

Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank said in a note: “A degree of risk aversion has crept back into the market ahead of Friday’s US jobs report.”

HONG KONG: Shares fell 2.31 percent yesterday as dealers followed a big loss on the mainland and worries about the global economy.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed 477.78 points lower at HK$20,248.90. Turnover was HK$59.05.
Analysts said the index can fall as low as 19,000 next month, as worries about Europe crisis coupled with increasing fears over the strength of China’s economic recovery will likely weigh on shares.

SHANGHAI: Despite earlier optimism, Shanghai fell 4.27 percent, or 108.23 points to 2,427.05, with analysts saying the low price range for Agricultural Bank of China’s initial public offering had raised concerns. The index is at its lowest since April last year, Agbank set a value of 37-39 US cents a share, which would raise up to US$10.1 billion.

SINGAPORE: The Straits Times Index closed 1.38 percent, or 39.65 points, lower at 2,829.38.
Neptune Orient Lines fell 2.46 percent to S$1.98, Wilmar was off 2.53 percent at S$5.77 and Singapore Airlines fell 0.55 percent to S$14.44.
Banking stocks were among the weak points in Singapore. United Overseas Bank fell 2.3 percent.

KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia continued to consolidate with expanded trading ranges yesterday. Overall declining counters outpaced advancing counters by 175 to 514.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) fell from its intra-day high of 1,331.09 to its intra-day low of 1,315.82. It closed at 1,319.84 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 5.70 points, or 0.43 percent.

In other markets:

TAIPEI fell 1.03 percent, or 77.22 points, to 7,423.57.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co fell 1.14 percent to NT$61.0 while Formosa Plastics was 0.89 percent lower to 66.9.

JAKARTA lost 2.11 percent, or 62.36 points, to 2,893.37.

MANILA closed 0.26 percent higher, adding 8.81 points to 3,372.71.
Energy Development Corp fell 1.1 percent to 4.50 pesos and First Philippine Holdings shed 0.9 percent to 55.50 pesos.

WELLINGTON fell 0.58 percent, or 17.34 points, to 2,991.07.
Air New Zealand shed 0.5 percent to NZ$1.88 and investment holding company Guinness Peat Group shed 2.9 percent to 66 cents, but Fletcher Building ended up 0.4 percent at 7.98.

BANGKOK fell 0.66 percent, or 5.31 points, to 799.09. Banpu plunged 14.00 baht to close at 604.00 and PTT fell 4.00 baht to 250.00.

MUMBAI slipped 1.35 percent, or 240.17 points, to 17,534.09.
Aluminium producer Hindalco fell 4.35 percent to 144.15 rupees and mobile phone firm Reliance Communications fell 3.82 percent to 193.75.

VIETNAM: The VN Index regained the threshold of 510 points when jumping 3.43 points or 0.68 percent to close at 510.71 points with total matching order trade of over 41.5 million shares valued at 1.263 trillion dong.
The HNX reported a slight increase of 0.18 point or 0.11 percent to end at 161.33 points with total market trade of 44.39 million shares for 1.295 trillion dong in value.

EUROPE: European stocks extended their sharp losses yesterday afternoon, breaking a key support level and falling along with US shares as grim data on US consumer confidence fuelled worries over the economic recovery.
At 1408 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 2.8 percent at 998.40 points, while the Euro STOXX 50 was down 3.9 percent at 2,564.67 points, falling below its key 23.6 percent retracement level from its April high and May low, signalling more losses.
The London FTSE 100 index lost 3.10 percent to close at 4,914.22 points while in Paris the CAC 40 gave up 4.01 percent to finish at 3,432.99. The Frankfurt DAX fell 3.33 percent to 5,952.03

AMERICA: No matter where they look, investors are seeing economic trouble.

Stocks and interest rates plunged Tuesday after signs of slowing economies from China to the U.S. spooked traders who were already uneasy about a global recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 268 points, or 2.7 percent, and dropped to 9,870.30, its lowest close since June 7. During the last hour, the Dow was down 326.60. The Dow has fallen 428 points, or 4.2 percent, in the past four days.

The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 3.1 percent to close at its lowest level since October.
s
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 33.33, or 3.1 percent, to 1,041.24. It was the lowest close for the S&P since Oct. 5 and the fifth drop of more than 3 percent in the past year. The index is now down 14.5 percent from its 2010 peak in April.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 85.47, or 3.9 percent, to 2,135.18.

Only about 260 stocks rose while about 2,840 fell at the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.3 billion shares, compared with a light 3.9 billion Monday.

Crude oil fell $2.31 to $75.94 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The yield on the two-year Treasury note traded as low as 0.59 percent, below the 0.60 percent from December 2008 during the peak of the financial crisis.

A drop in the euro to $1.2181 was another sign of traders’ nervousness. A slide in the 16-nation currency has for months indicated fading confidence in Europe’s ability to handle big budget deficits.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 25.58, or 4 percent, to 615.96.

Benchmark Currency Rates
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
HKD 	7.7846 	9.4766 	0.0879 	11.705 	7.1884 	7.369 	6.594 	
AUD 	1.1806 	1.4372 	0.0133 	1.7751 	1.0901 	1.1175 	 	0.1517
CAD 	1.0564 	1.286 	0.0119 	1.5884 	0.9755 	 	0.8948 	0.1357
CHF 	1.083 	1.3183 	0.0122 	1.6283 	 	1.0251 	0.9173 	0.1391
GBP 	0.6651 	0.8096 	0.0075 	 	0.6141 	0.6296 	0.5633 	0.0854
JPY 	88.558 	107.805  	133.156 81.7748 83.83 	75.0131 11.376
EUR 	0.8215 	 	0.0093 	1.2352 	0.7585 	0.7776 	0.6958 	0.1055
USD 	 	1.2173 	0.0113 	1.5036 	0.9234 	0.9466 	0.847 	0.1285
                                                              Bloomberg

 

Category: Stocks