Asian shares fell this week, with the benchmark index extending its longest streak of weekly declines since June 2011, as investors shunned risk in a global rout that wiped US$1.7 trillion from equities this year.
Honda Motor Co, a Japanese carmaker that gets almost half its revenue in North America, lost 5.5 percent. Lenovo Group (聯想) plunged 16 percent in Hong Kong after the stock was downgraded by at least five brokerages. NGK Insulators surged 10 percent in Tokyo after the ceramic product maker boosted its profit forecast.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.1 percent to 133.27 this week, its sixth week of declines and its longest consecutive drop since the seven-week rout through June 17, 2011. The measure fell 4.6 percent last month for its worst start to a year since 2009 as economic data from China missed estimates and emerging-market currencies slumped.
“There will be further consolidation in the market,” Kelly Teoh, Singapore-based strategist at brokerage IG Ltd, said by telephone. “There’s been a reality check for everyone following last year’s market exuberance. People were expecting the global economic recovery to be strong, but now cracks are starting to appear.”
US data released on Friday showed that payrolls increased less than projected last month and the jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level in more than five years, clouding the outlook for the US economy. The 113,000 gain in hiring fell short of the 180,000 advance that was the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Unemployment declined to 6.6 percent, the least since October 2008, from 6.7 percent in December.
Taiwan’s TAIEX slid 0.9 percent to 8,387.35 on Friday from 8,462.57 on Jan. 27. Markets were shut from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.
Taiwanese stocks gained on Friday, extending their momentum from a session earlier as investors reacted positively to a technical rebound staged on Wall Street overnight, dealers said on Friday.
Large-cap electronics stocks — including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體) — and old economy shares led the advance, but turnover remained below NT$100 billion (US$3.3 billion), with many investors remaining cautious ahead of the release of US non-farm payroll data later that day, they said.
The weighted index closed up 76.34 points, or 0.91 percent, at 8,387.35, after fluctuating between 8,356.93 and 8,409.03, on turnover of NT$95.85 billion.
“The market still needs some time to consolidate before entrenching itself above 8,400 points, where technical resistance is strong,” KGI Securities (凱基證券) analyst Eason Lee said.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.5 percent on the week, as the nation’s central bank left its key interest rate at a record-low 2.5 percent, as predicted by all 32 economists in a Bloomberg survey.
Japan’s TOPIX dropped 2.6 percent, capping a fifth week of declines for its longest losing streak since June 2012. Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 0.5 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 1.8 percent, declining for a third week to enter a correction. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6 percent on Friday after being closed for the rest of the week due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Asia-Pacific gauge traded at 12.5 times estimated earnings on Friday, compared with 15.2 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 13.9 for the STOXX Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In other markets on Friday:
Manila rose 1.63 percent, or 96.55 points, from Thursday to 6,011.14.
Wellington rose 0.68 percent, or 32.85 points, to 4,840.79.
Mumbai rose 0.32 percent, or 65.82 points, to 20,376.56.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained