Asian shares fell, led by Sony Corp and BHP Billiton Ltd, on concern figures this week would show a drop in US home sales, signaling declining demand in the region's largest export market.
"Stocks globally take a fall every time there's more bad news on US housing-related or lending data because there's a threat that this may spill over into other parts of the economy," said Eric Betts, a strategist at Nomura Australia Ltd in Sydney. "This wouldn't be good for companies that depend on the US consumer."
rate increase?
Citic Securities Co (
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.56 percent to 18,087.48. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed down 0.81 percent at 21,822.35. South Korea's KOSPI index fell 0.75 percent at 1,757.73, while Australia's key S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.83 percent at 6,329.7.
Taiwan, Thailand and Pakistan were the only other markets in the region to rise.
US stocks dropped last Friday, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to its worst week since early March. The near collapse of a Bear Stearns Cos hedge fund spurred speculation investors will have to write down the value of securities containing subprime mortgages.
decliners
Sony, the world's biggest maker of game consoles, fell 1.4 percent to ?6,460. BHP Billiton, the biggest mining company, lost 1.2 percent to A$34.94. Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, dropped 2.9 percent to 33,700 won. Citic Securities, China's biggest publicly traded brokerage, lost 4.6 percent to 55.55 yuan.
But China's defense-related stocks surged yesterday amid reports the government would push ahead with shareholding reforms that allow limited foreign investment in China's weapons makers.
China's Cabinet, or the State Council, the Commission of Science Technology & Industry for National Defense (COSTIND), the economic planning agency and the agency in charge of state assets agreed to push ahead with the reforms, COSTIND said in a statement on its Web site.
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Hafei Aviation Industry's (
Makers of strategically sensitive weapons involving state secrets are excluded from the reforms, the statement said.
It said weapons makers should set up modern corporate management systems, establish boards of directors and restructure their businesses, the statement said.
The rules "encourage investment by domestic companies and, under conditions, allow foreign capital to participate in the shareholding reforms," it said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)