Major Asian Markets Close In The Red; Oil Price Dampens Energy ...

2011-08-20 14:28:08 | Source

Monday, major Asian markets settled in negative turf, with energy stocks taking a heavy beating on a decline in crude oil price towards $58 a barrel. Mixed performance of the U.S stocks Friday, concerns over the Japanese economy and domestic corporate news guided investor sentiment during the day.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei index plummeted 2.3% to 15725.94, its lowest close since September 26 on massive selling by foreign investors. Investors also held negative sentiment after a report released during the weekend suggested that the Japanese government is likely to downgrade its monthly assessment of the domestic economy for the first time in 23 months.

In the banking sector, lender Mizuho Financial Group plunged over 3% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group receded almost 3%. After the market close, Mizuho posted a 15.9% increase in first-half profit. The lender, which left its full-year estimate untouched, said bad-loan costs outweighed a decline in its mainstay lending business in the first half. Promise slumped 6.2%.

Sanyo Electric nose-dived 12.7%, following a media report that said the company is likely report a group net loss of about 50 billion yen for the year ending March 2007. In the oil and metals sector, Inpex Holdings lost 3.4% and Sumitomo Titanium tumbled over 6.5%.

Australia's chief S&P/ASX 200 index plunged 1.80% to close at 5,322.4, after investors sold stocks in the resources and banking sectors. The All Ordinaries Index fell 1.63% to settle at 5,303.4.

In the resources space, Iluka Resources plunged over 4% and Rio Tinto shed 2.1%. BHP Billiton and Zinifex lost over 1% each. Lihir Gold receded 1.7%. Oil issues Santos and Woodside Petroleum fell 2% and 1% respectively.

Lender Macquarie Bank tumbled over 3% and NAB lost 2.3%. Westpac Banking, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank lost over a percent each. Babcock & Brown shed about 1%. Insurers AXA Asia Pacific, Henderson Group and IAG receded more than 1% each.

South Korea's weighted KOSPI shed 0.71% to close at 1,402.21 on a sharp drop in the Japanese market, weak U.S housing starts data and technical correction, analysts said. The South Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor receded 2.3%. In the tech space, Samsung Electronics slipped 0.3% and chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor slumped 2.4%.

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Heavy Industries tumbled more than 3% each on won's strength against the U.S dollar.

Hong Kong's key indicator Hang Seng index lost 1.19% to settle at 18,954.63 after blue chip majors comprising HSBC and China Mobile came under severe selling pressure.

Bank of East Asia plunged 3.5% and HSBC shed nearly 1%. Realtors Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land declined over a percent each. Conglomerate China Mobile plunged more than 2.5%, while Swire Pacific lost 1.7%.

Among the China-related shares, Sinopec Yizheng Chemical Fibre spurted 2.5%, China Unicom shot up almost 3% and Sinopec gained 1.5%. Jiangxi Copper advanced 1.1%.

India's BSE Sensex edged up 0.01% to finish at 13,430.71 on late buying interest in select blue chips. Bharti Airtel rallied over 5%, while the shares of HDFC and Infosys jumped more than 3% each. Reliance Communications spurted 2.5% and TCS firmed up 2%.

China's key indicator Shanghai Composite Index spurted 2.31% to close at 2,017.28, a new 63-month high on bargain hunting in real estate and banking stocks.

China Merchants Bank shot up 6.5% and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surged 3.2%, while the shares of Huaxia Bank and China Minsheng Banking firmed up about 4% each. Shenzhen Development Bank spurted 4.6%.

Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development and China Vanke rallied over 7% each, while Shanghai Jinqiao Export Processing Zone Development jumped more than 5%.

Taiwan's chief TAIEX index settled at 7,261.48, inching up 0.03%, with select blue chips managing to end in the green.

Advanced Semiconductors surged about 2.5%. Hon Hai Precision jumped 6.7% on a media report that Apple has placed an order for 12 million "iPhones" with the company. On the other hand, Chunghwa Telecom plunged over 1.5%, while NanYa Plastic and China Steel lost about 1% each. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ended moderately lower.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 0.18% to settle at 3,809.21 after majority blue chips remained out of favor.

Fletcher Building, Hellaby Holding, TrustPower and Sky City dropped over a percent each. Top stock Telecom slipped 0.2%. Ebos Group tumbled almost 6% and Telstra plunged 3.2%. Contact Energy declined more than 0.5%.

Singapore's STI index dropped 1.48% to end at 2,771.41, while Malaysia's KLSE Composite index receded 0.70% to 1,033.52. Meanwhile, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index advanced 0.71% to settle at 1,684.

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