Asian stocks fell from a six-year high this week as materials and technology companies dragged the regional benchmark index lower.
BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s biggest mining company, slid 1.3 percent in Sydney, while in South Korea, Samsung Electronics Co paced declines among technology firms as the KOSPI posted its biggest drop in two months and Samsung Life Insurance Co lost 3.4 percent after an investor sold 5 million shares.
In Taipei, HTC Corp (宏達電) climbed 2.3 percent after chief executive officer Peter Chou (周永明) told shareholders he is seeing improvement from the second quarter.
The TAIEX slipped 0.46 percent, or 43.02 points, to 9,273.79 on Friday, compared with 9,196.39 on June 13, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) fell 1.19 percent to NT$124.5 and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) rose 0.43 percent to NT$94.3.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.3 percent to 144.93 as of 4:03pm on Friday in Hong Kong to advanced 0.4 percent over the week in its sixth consecutive weekly gain, the longest stretch of increases since August last year.
The measure on Thursday reached its highest level since June 2008 and traded at 13.4 times estimated earnings at the week’s last close, compared with 16.6 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 15.6 for the STOXX Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The gains came after US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she expects US interest rates to stay near zero for a “considerable time” after stimulatory bond-buying ends.
“Investors need to be asking whether the Fed and Yellen will prove to be as stubbornly dovish on monetary policy as much of the commentary now assumes,” CMC Markets Ltd chief strategist Ric Spooner said.
“Market thinking on this may be tested if US economic growth and inflation rates continue to improve in coming months.” he added.
In Tokyo, the TOPIX capped a fifth weekly advance on Friday to post its longest stretch of gains in almost a year. The measure closed little changed in the session, with developers and carmakers rising as oil and producers fell.
The Japanese index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 1,268.92 at the close and rose 2 percent on the week, while the Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 0.1 percent to 15,349.42 on Friday.
“The outlook for the global economy is looking brighter, led by the US, and it’s becoming more obvious that Japanese shares need to catch up,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.
Still, there are signs that “Japanese equities are overheating in the short term,” Nishi added.
Even after posting a 10 percent rebound from its May 21 low, the TOPIX is still the worst performer this year among 24 developed markets tracked by Bloomberg. The measure capped a world-beating rally last year as the Bank of Japan pressed ahead with record monetary easing.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.9 percent on Friday, with BHP Billiton declining 1.3 percent to A$35.95, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index slid 0.9 percent.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index reversed losses on Friday to end up 0.2 percent at 2,026.67 points, trimming its weekly drop to 2.1 percent, but still posting its worst showing since April 25.
In Seoul, the KOSPI fell 1.2 percent as Samsung Electronics retreated 1.7 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.1 percent, Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.1 percent and India’s BSE S&P Sensex Index advanced 0.1 percent.
In other markets on Friday:
Wellington fell 0.91 percent, or 47.12 points, from Thursday to end on 5,145.03.
Manila closed 0.47 percent higher, adding 31.57 points to reach 6,730.96.
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