Asian shares were mixed on Friday amid rising tension in Egypt after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak enraged protesters on Thursday by saying he would not step down.
Global markets were keeping an eye on Egypt amid concerns that chaos there could spill over to other parts of the already volatile Middle East. Most Asian markets closed on Friday before Mubarak stepped down.
Seoul dived 1.56 percent, or 31.31 points, to 1,977.19 and Sydney ended 0.68 percent, or 33.5 points, lower at 4,880.9, while Taipei tumbled 2.57 percent, or 226.70 points, to 8,609.86.
However, Shanghai closed 0.33 percent, or 9.17 points, higher at 2,827.33. Tokyo’s Nikkei was closed for a public holiday.
The Shanghai index gained on Friday and Thursday as traders had already factored in a rate hike announced by Beijing on Tuesday — the third in four months.
Hong Kong’s benchmark stock index eked out gains on the final trading of its worst week in nine months, hit by an outflow of funds from Greater China markets.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 0.53 percent at 22,828.92, but down 4.5 percent on the week. The index has slipped below a trendline support, currently at 23,163 on the charts that had held since May last year, raising the risk of a retest of the December low about 22,400.
Shares of property developers in China dropped after the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported sales of new homes in Shanghai fell by 25 percent last month from the previous month to 1.05 million square meters, citing Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Service Co.
The China Securities Journal reported the central bank adjusted the reserve requirement for some of the nation’s medium and small lenders, without saying where it got the information. Lending last month exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan (US$182 million), according to the report.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Excluding Japan Index decreased 1 percent to 459.93 as of 6:43pm on Friday in Hong Kong, after rising less than 0.1 percent. Two stocks dropped for each that rose in the measure.
AU Optronics Corp, Taiwan’s second-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, fell 2.6 percent to NT$26.3. The company said sales last month dropped 22 percent to NT$28 billion (US$968 million) from a year earlier.
The People’s Bank of China increased borrowing costs for the third time since mid-October, lifting the one-year lending rate by a quarter point to 6.06 percent and the one-year deposit rate an equivalent amount to 3 percent.
Elsewhere, the Bank of Korea unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged following last month’s increase, while Australia’s central bank Governor Glenn Stevens signaled no urgency to raise interest rates in the first half.
Singapore fell 0.84 percent, or 26.12 points, to 3,077.27.
Manila closed 0.29 percent, or 10.84 points, higher at 3,749.15.
Jakarta rose 0.54 percent, or 18.12 points, to 3,391.76.
Kuala Lumpur closed down 0.63 percent, or 9.47 points, at 1,494.52.
Wellington was flat, gaining 1.57 points to end at 3,367.44.
Bangkok ended flat, edging up 0.48 points to 949.57.
Mumbai rose 1.52 percent, or 265.57 points, to 17,728.61.
In the week ahead, Chinese economic data for last month, due next week, is expected to show that lending surged and inflation accelerated, prompting concern among some investors that the central bank could take more steps to control money supply.
Markets might receive a lift from short-covering after bearish bets picked up through the week. A weak US market, which some traders say is set for a pullback, could see further pressure on the Hang Seng Index.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day