Asian stocks fell the most this week since August on concern rising credit costs will dent bank earnings and slowing US growth will curb demand for televisions and cameras.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Westpac Banking Corp dropped as credit risk in the region rose to records, signaling expectations of an increase in global loan defaults. Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co led declines among companies reliant on US sales after manufacturing shrank and mortgage foreclosures climbed.
"We're seeing a pipeline of bad news, be it bank writedowns or the deterioration of the US economy," said Ivan Leung, who helps manage US$350 billion as Hong Kong-based chief investment strategist at JPMorgan Private Bank. "Markets are selling off whenever there's bad news and, to us, that's not indicative of a recovery."
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 5.4 percent to 139.61, the biggest weekly slump since the five days ending Aug. 17. Financial stocks posted the second-largest percentage decrease among the index's 10 industry groups, trailing energy shares.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices closed 1.47 percent lower, dealers said.
The weighted index closed down 127.26 points at 8,531.38. Turnover was NT$175.01 billion (US$5.68 billion).
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"We can't expect Taipei to keep outperforming Wall Street and the others all the time," he said.
However, Huang said a scenario favoring a rise in the local market had not yet faded because the driving force behind recent gains remained intact.
That driving force was the belief that there will be a thaw in economic relations between Taipei and Beijing after the presidential election later this month, he said.
TOKYO
Japanese share prices tumbled 3.27 percent to a six-week low, hit by a stronger yen and a sell-off on Wall Street where fresh credit market problems rattled investors, dealers said.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 lost 432.62 points to 12,782.80, the lowest closing level since Jan. 22. The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares dropped 39.78 points or 3.09 percent to 1,247.77.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed down 3.6 percent, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed down 841.4 points at 22,501.33.
"Confidence in the market is very low at the moment because investors are weighing the impact of a US recession on the global economy," Sun Hung Kai Financial strategist Castor Pang said.
SYDNEY
Australian shares closed down 3.2 percent, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was 171.5 points lower at 5264, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 163 points to 5368.9.
SHANGHAI
Chinese share prices closed 1.39 percent lower, dealers said.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, fell 60.47 points to 4,300.52. The Shanghai A-share Index was down 1.39 percent to 4,512.22. The Shenzhen A-share Index shed 1.33 percent to 1,441.66. The Shanghai B-share index fell 1.54 percent to 309.48. The Shenzhen B-share index was down 0.35 percent to 632.73.
SEOUL
South Korean shares closed 2.0 percent lower, dealers said.
The KOSPI index closed down 33.47 points at 1,663.97.
SINGAPORE
Singapore shares prices closed 1.77 percent lower, dealers said.
The main Straits Times index fell 51.64 points to 2,866.28.
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian share prices closed down 0.3 percent, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed down 3.36 points at 1,296.33.
BANGKOK
Thai share prices closed 0.74 percent lower, dealers said.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index fell 6.14 points to 821.57.
MANILA
Philippine share prices closed 2.8 percent lower, dealers said.
The composite index slid 88.11 points to 3,028.73, its weakest close since Jan. 22.
MUMBAI
Indian shares plunged to close down 3.42 percent, dealers said.
The benchmark Mumbai stock exchange SENSEX fell 566.56 points to 15,975.52.
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them. The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, all in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, is a boom without a parallel this century. Each of the companies’ estimates for this year is expected either near or surpass their budgets for the past three years combined. They would set a high-watermark for capital spending
China’s top chipmaker has warned that breakaway spending on artificial intelligence (AI) chips is bringing forward years of future demand, raising the risk that some data centers could sit idle. “Companies would love to build 10 years’ worth of data center capacity within one or two years,” Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) cochief executive officer Zhao Haijun (趙海軍) said yesterday on a call with analysts. “As for what exactly these data centers will do, that hasn’t been fully thought through.” Moody’s Ratings projects that AI-related infrastructure investment would exceed US$3 trillion over the next five years, as developers pour eye-watering sums
Bank of America Corp nearly doubled its forecast for the nation’s economic growth this year, adding to a slew of upgrades even after a rip-roaring last year propelled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI). The firm lifted its projection to 8 percent from 4.5 percent on “relentless global demand” for the hardware that Taiwanese companies make, according to a note dated yesterday by analysts including Xiaoqing Pi (皮曉青). Taiwan’s GDP expanded 8.63 percent last year, the fastest pace since 2010. The increase “reflects our sustained optimism over Taiwan’s technology driven expansion and is reinforced by several recent developments,” including a more stable currency,
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