Asian stocks fell, capping the biggest streak of weekly losses since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc in September 2008, as disappointing US economic reports overshadowed optimism Europe’s debt crisis may be contained.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index declined 0.3 percent to 133.98 this week, its fifth straight drop, as reports showed US manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace in more than a year and employers hired fewer workers than forecast, exacerbating concern over the global impact of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.
“The weak manufacturing and employment data have added to concerns about the strength of the global economy,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd in Sydney. “The roller-coaster in global and regional markets continues and right now it’s back to risk-off.”
Taiwan’s TAIEX was a big winner this week, gaining 2.7 percent to finish on Friday at 9,046.28.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.3 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 2.2 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 1.3 percent.
Toyota and Honda Motor Co led declines among Japanese carmakers in Tokyo, as industry-wide US auto sales fell to 1.06 million cars and light trucks last month from 1.1 million a year earlier, according to a report from Autodata Corp.
Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, decreased 3.2 percent to ¥3,230 this week. Honda Motor Co, which gets about 44 percent of sales from North America, dropped 1.6 percent to ¥3,020.
In other markets on Friday:
Manila closed down 0.63 percent, or 27.36 points, from Thursday at 4,297.62.
Wellington lost 0.31 percent, or 11.06 points, from Thursday to 3,514.76.
Mumbai closed down 0.64 percent, or 117.7 points, from Thursday at 18,376.48.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group