Asian stocks on Friday fell for a second day, after dropping the most in almost two months on Thursday, as industrial shares led declines. The TOPIX posted its first weekly decline in more than two months as Japanese equities went ex-dividend.
Sinotrans Ltd tumbled 6.4 percent in Hong Kong, with the logistics provider leading a retreat among industrial companies. Toshiba Corp sank 3.4 percent in Tokyo after rival SanDisk Corp cut its sales forecast. Bharti Airtel Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd slumped at least 4.6 percent after agreeing to pay the most for wireless airwaves in India’s record 1.1 trillion rupee (US$17.6 billion) sale of radio frequency spectrum to mobile-phone operators.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.5 percent to 146.68 as of 7:48pm in Hong Kong. The measure slid 1.1 percent on Thursday and is headed for a 0.6 percent decline this week. US equities fell for a fourth day on Thursday, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index erasing its advance for this year, on concern stock gains had gotten ahead of the outlook for the economy and corporate profits.
“We’ve had a lot of weak economic data in the first quarter in the US,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist in Philadelphia at Janney Capital Management LLC, which oversees about US$68 billion. “We’re expecting to see earnings decline in the first and second quarters of 2015. This is not a formula for why stock prices should be significantly higher from here. That’s what the markets are trying to evaluate and are struggling with it.”
Japan’s TOPIX index slid 1 percent, bringing this week’s losses to 1.8 percent. More than 1,440 of the 1,858 companies in the index traded from yesterday without the right to the next dividend payment, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Heading into the fiscal year-end, selling en masse is driving shares lower amid poor liquidity and a lack of news,” Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co senior investment strategist Norihito Fujito said. “Investors are taking profits in stocks that rose sharply recently.”
The nation’s core consumer prices rose 2 percent from a year earlier in February, data released by the statistics bureau on Friday showed, missing economist estimates for a 2.1 percent increase. Stripped of the effect of a sales-tax increase in April last year, core inflation — the Bank of Japan’s key measure — was zero.
The TAIEX fell 1.20 percent, or 115.40 points, to 9,503.72. Acer Inc (宏碁) shed 3.27 percent to NT$20.7 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was 2.06 percent lower at NT$142.5.
South Korea’s KOSPI index lost 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was little changed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.7 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index advanced 0.4 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 0.5 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent, as rail and construction-related companies extended this week’s rally on prospects for improved earnings as the government accelerates overseas projects to support economic growth.
In other markets on Friday, Wellington added 0.36 percent, or 21.08 points, to 5,919.94.
Manila ended flat, edging up 6.86 points to 7,877.96.
Mumbai ended nearly flat at 27,458.64 points.
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