Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark paring its firstly monthly gain since October last year, as earnings concerns offset a drop in US jobless claims. Chinese shares posted their biggest weekly decline in a year.
The TAIEX Index fell 0.9 percent to 9,361.91. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co retreated for a second day from a record.
Computer-maker NEC Corp tumbled 7.5 percent in Tokyo after operating profit missed estimates. Bank of Baroda slumped 11 percent in Mumbai as net income plunged. Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd dropped 3.1 percent in Hong Kong on a report Macau will push for a complete smoking ban in all areas of casinos.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.2 percent to 140.23 as of 4:09pm in Hong Kong. The gauge was heading for a 1.7 percent advance for last month, led by a surge in Hong Kong shares. Regional stocks slid last week as NEC joined companies in the US from Caterpillar Inc to Qualcomm Inc in disappointing investors.
“This season will be more tough and they’ll be lots of earnings misses,” said Sam Le Cornu, who oversees about US$3 billion in Asian equities at Macquarie Funds Management in Hong Kong. “Earnings are going to be soft.”
Japan’s TOPIX index rose 0.1 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI slid 0.1 percent and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index lost 0.3 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.6 percent to cap a 4.2 percent weekly drop.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 3.8 percent last month, with Tencent Holdings Ltd surging 17 percent amid optimism Asia’s second-largest Internet company will diversify its revenue sources. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percent this month after a regulator barred China’s three biggest brokerages from adding margin-trading accounts. The gauge surged 21 percent in December.
In other markets on Friday:
Manila rose 0.95 percent, or 72.61 points, from Thursday to 7,689.91.
Wellington was down 0.27 percent, or 15.82 points, at 5,743.99.
Mumbai fell 1.68 percent, or 498.82 points, to end at 29,182.95 points.
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
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
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