Asian stocks declined for the first time in three weeks as commodities prices slumped and companies took advantage of the recent rally to sell new shares.
Aluminum Corp of China (中國鋁業), China’s biggest producer of the metal, slumped 8 percent in Hong Kong. BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s largest miner, fell 3 percent. Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan’s biggest brokerage, slumped 17 percent after announcing a record US$5.6 billion share sale. Guoyuan Securities Co (國元證券) slumped 11 percent after regulators approved its plan to sell additional equity.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’d seen the peak of the market for this year because the economic news isn’t going to improve very much,” investor Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday. “The correction in the market has been overdue for quite some time.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index dropped 0.5 percent this week to 117.77. Asian markets have rallied 67 percent since the MSCI benchmark dropped to a five-year low on March 9.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1 percent, while China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 4.2 percent for the region’s steepest decline. Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were among markets that posted gains this week.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to see buying from local institutional investors in an attempt to dress up their books with the quarter coming to an end next week, dealers said on Friday.
However, the upside room is limited as the market moves closer to a strong resistance level at around 7,500 points, they said.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index fell 181.33 points, or 2.41 percent, to 7,345.22, after a 2.58 percent increase a week earlier.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$109.74 billion (US$3.39 billion), compared with NT$116.70 billion the previous week.
“I do not have high hopes about local institutional buying as the interest is expected to focus on small and mid-cap stocks on low valuations instead of large-sized counterparts,” Grand Cathay Securities Corp (大華證券) analyst Mars Hsu said.
Other markets on Friday:
HONG KONG: Down 0.13 percent. The Hang Seng Index lost 26.33 points at 21,024.40.
“Concerns the US Federal Reserve will scale back some of its supportive measures for the economy will weigh on the local market in the near term,” Ernie Hon, strategist at ICBC International Securities told Dow Jones Newswires.
SHANGHAI: Down 0.52 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was down 14.71 points to 2,838.84.
“The fall in large-caps and sharply shrinking turnover shows investors’ sentiment remains very weak and the market has no momentum to go upward in the near term,” said Zhou Lin, an analyst at Huatai Securities.
SEOUL: Down 0.14 percent. The KOSPI lost 2.4 points to close at 1,691.48.
SINGAPORE: Down 0.17 percent. The Straits Times Index fell 4.61 points to 2,662.82.
BANGKOK: Down 0.96 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand fell 6.97 points to close at 721.57.
KUALA LUMPUR: Flat. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 0.67 points to close at 1,217.39
JAKARTA: Down 0.98 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index lost 24.32 points to 2,444.58.
MANILA: Down 0.56 percent. The composite index fell 16.00 points to 2,821.34.
“The US markets are down and its probably also a reaction to the import figures,” for July, Paul Balaoing of PCCI Securities Brokers said.
“Everyone was expecting that by this time, import figures would have improved,” he said.
MUMBAI: Down 0.53 percent. The 30-share SENSEX index fell 88.43 points to 16,693.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2