Asian stocks fell the most this week since August on concern rising credit costs will dent bank earnings and slowing US growth will curb demand for televisions and cameras.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Westpac Banking Corp dropped as credit risk in the region rose to records, signaling expectations of an increase in global loan defaults. Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co led declines among companies reliant on US sales after manufacturing shrank and mortgage foreclosures climbed.
"We're seeing a pipeline of bad news, be it bank writedowns or the deterioration of the US economy," said Ivan Leung, who helps manage US$350 billion as Hong Kong-based chief investment strategist at JPMorgan Private Bank. "Markets are selling off whenever there's bad news and, to us, that's not indicative of a recovery."
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 5.4 percent to 139.61, the biggest weekly slump since the five days ending Aug. 17. Financial stocks posted the second-largest percentage decrease among the index's 10 industry groups, trailing energy shares.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices closed 1.47 percent lower, dealers said.
The weighted index closed down 127.26 points at 8,531.38. Turnover was NT$175.01 billion (US$5.68 billion).
Mega International Investment Services (
"We can't expect Taipei to keep outperforming Wall Street and the others all the time," he said.
However, Huang said a scenario favoring a rise in the local market had not yet faded because the driving force behind recent gains remained intact.
That driving force was the belief that there will be a thaw in economic relations between Taipei and Beijing after the presidential election later this month, he said.
TOKYO
Japanese share prices tumbled 3.27 percent to a six-week low, hit by a stronger yen and a sell-off on Wall Street where fresh credit market problems rattled investors, dealers said.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 lost 432.62 points to 12,782.80, the lowest closing level since Jan. 22. The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares dropped 39.78 points or 3.09 percent to 1,247.77.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed down 3.6 percent, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed down 841.4 points at 22,501.33.
"Confidence in the market is very low at the moment because investors are weighing the impact of a US recession on the global economy," Sun Hung Kai Financial strategist Castor Pang said.
SYDNEY
Australian shares closed down 3.2 percent, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was 171.5 points lower at 5264, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 163 points to 5368.9.
SHANGHAI
Chinese share prices closed 1.39 percent lower, dealers said.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, fell 60.47 points to 4,300.52. The Shanghai A-share Index was down 1.39 percent to 4,512.22. The Shenzhen A-share Index shed 1.33 percent to 1,441.66. The Shanghai B-share index fell 1.54 percent to 309.48. The Shenzhen B-share index was down 0.35 percent to 632.73.
SEOUL
South Korean shares closed 2.0 percent lower, dealers said.
The KOSPI index closed down 33.47 points at 1,663.97.
SINGAPORE
Singapore shares prices closed 1.77 percent lower, dealers said.
The main Straits Times index fell 51.64 points to 2,866.28.
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian share prices closed down 0.3 percent, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed down 3.36 points at 1,296.33.
BANGKOK
Thai share prices closed 0.74 percent lower, dealers said.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index fell 6.14 points to 821.57.
MANILA
Philippine share prices closed 2.8 percent lower, dealers said.
The composite index slid 88.11 points to 3,028.73, its weakest close since Jan. 22.
MUMBAI
Indian shares plunged to close down 3.42 percent, dealers said.
The benchmark Mumbai stock exchange SENSEX fell 566.56 points to 15,975.52.
When Lika Megreladze was a child, life in her native western Georgian region of Guria revolved around tea. Her mother worked for decades as a scientist at the Soviet Union’s Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops in the village of Anaseuli, Georgia, perfecting cultivation methods for a Georgian tea industry that supplied the bulk of the vast communist state’s brews. “When I was a child, this was only my mum’s workplace. Only later I realized that it was something big,” she said. Now, the institute lies abandoned. Yellowed papers are strewn around its decaying corridors, and a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
HELPING HAND: Approving the sale of H20s could give China the edge it needs to capture market share and become the global standard, a US representative said The US President Donald Trump administration’s decision allowing Nvidia Corp to resume shipments of its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China risks bolstering Beijing’s military capabilities and expanding its capacity to compete with the US, the head of the US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said. “The H20, which is a cost-effective and powerful AI inference chip, far surpasses China’s indigenous capability and would therefore provide a substantial increase to China’s AI development,” committee chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, said on Friday in a letter to US Secretary of
RSS