Asian stocks slid this week, with the region's benchmark posting its biggest drop in a month, on concern that terrorism will derail global economic growth. NEC Corp and Samsung Electronics Co led the week's decline.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which tracks more than 800 stocks in the region, shed 3.4 percent for the week, its largest slide since the five days ended Oct. 24. Bombs blasts killed at least 27 people in Istanbul yesterday, following media reports earlier this week that al-Qaeda would start attacks on US allies, including the UK, Australia and Japan.
Terrorism "hurts market sentiment because it is a risk that investors can't anticipate," said Nobuki Goto, who helps manage the equivalent of US$14 billion at Tokio Marine Asset Management Co in Tokyo. "In the short term, that's likely to hurt exporters."
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 3.1 percent to 9852.83, completing its biggest back-to-back weekly decline since the four weeks ended March 14. South Korea's Kospi index slumped 4.8 percent, the biggest slide in a month.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 3 percent, its biggest decline since the period ended March 28. Singapore's Straits Times Index lost 4.7 percent, heading for its biggest slide in 10 months. Thailand's SET Index was the biggest weekly decliner in the region, down 7.2 percent.
All major stock benchmarks in Asia fell this week, apart from indexes in China, New Zealand and Indonesia.
The Nikkei lost 7.3 percent in the past two weeks, while the Topix dropped 6.8 percent.
NEC, which gets about 30 percent of its sales overseas, slid 11 percent to ?789. Japan's largest maker of personal computers on Friday said it will sell ?197 billion (US$1.8 billion) of shares to invest in equipment and pay debt, in what would be the nation's biggest stock sale this fiscal year.
Samsung Electronics, which gets about a fifth of its sales from exports, fell 6.3 percent for the week to 36,450 won. Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's largest automaker slid 6.2 percent to 42,500 won this week. It ships more than half of its vehicles overseas.
LG Card Co, South Korea's largest credit card issuer, plunged 32 percent to 8,900 won. LG Group, its parent company, asked lenders to provide 2 trillion won (US$1.7 billion) to bail out LG Card on Tuesday. The Kospi had its biggest weekly decline since the week ended Sept. 26.
HSBC Holdings Plc, the world's second-biggest bank by market value, shed 2.5 percent to HK$115.50 in Hong Kong this week.
The attacks in Istanbul yesterday, the second in less than a week in Turkey, killed British Consul General Roger Short and some HSBC employees. Al-Qaeda and a Turkish group known as the Great Islamic Eastern Raiders Front claimed responsibility.
Al-Qaeda said it would target Japan if it sent the Japanese Self Defense Force to join the US-led coalition in Iraq, according to Al-Quds al-Arabi, a London-based newspaper, earlier in the week.
Japan Airlines System Corp, Singapore Airlines Ltd and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd paced a 3.9 percent slide in the Bloomberg Asia Pacific Travel Index this week on concern terrorist threats will crimp demand for travel.
Japan Airlines, Asia's largest carrier, lost 10 percent to ?283 for the week. Singapore Airlines, which has four flights to Istanbul a week, fell 4.9 percent to S$11.70. Cathay, Hong Kong's biggest airline, shed 4.1 percent to HK$14.
Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia's biggest airline, slid 1.5 percent to A$3.38. Qantas shares have dropped 12 percent this year following a slump in travel demand after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome and war in Iraq.
"There may be an increased level of uncertainty in the very short term," said Tim Julien, who oversees about US$420 million in Asian assets excluding Japan at ING Investment Management Asia Pacific Ltd in Australia. "But I don't think there's going to be panic in any market and we won't change our investment strategy because of this type of political event."
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS