Asian stocks slumped this week, extending the biggest global rout in six months that wiped out the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s yearly gains in one session amid weak earnings and credit market concerns.
Skymark Airlines Inc sank 11 percent after Japan’s third-largest carrier said it could go out of business if it has to pay Airbus Group NV a penalty for canceling the purchase of six A380 superjumbos, while Samsung Electronics Co fell 3.8 percent in Seoul after UBS AG cut its rating on the stock and Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd (長江實業) slid 4.7 percent in Hong Kong after the property developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) posted profit that missed estimates.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1 percent to 147.35 points as of 4:39pm in Hong Kong on Friday, heading for its largest drop since May 7, as nine of its 10 industry groups declined.
The loss left the gauge poised for a 1 percent weekly decline, its first such loss in three weeks after climbing to the highest close since June 2008 earlier in the week and capping a 2.1 percent gain for last month on Thursday. The MSCI All-Country World Index sank 1.5 percent on Thursday, the most since February.
“We’ve got a range of convenient reasons for investors to take some money off the table. The geopolitical risks have been rising and data flow in the US is suggesting that the [US] Fed[eral Reserve] may have to raise interest rates sooner rather than later. The Argentine issue is another piece of adverse news flow,” Angus Gluskie of White Funds Management said by telephone from Sydney.
In Taipei, the TAIEX retreated 0.53 percent, or 49.34 points, on Friday to close at 9,266.51 points, compared with 9,439.29 on July 25.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) fell 0.83 percent to NT$120, while HTC Corp (宏達電) rose 2.64 percent to NT$136.
Also on Friday, Japan’s TOPIX lost 0.6 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slumped 1.4 percent at the close — its biggest loss in more than four months — and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index fell 1.1 percent, the most since May last year.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore’s Straits Times Index sank 0.9 percent, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.2 percent and India’s S&P BSE SENSEX decreased 1 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slipped 0.9 percent on Friday to cap its biggest monthly advance since September 2012 the previous day. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland shares traded in the territory dropped 1.3 percent after entering a bull market this week, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7 percent.
On Friday, data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics showed that the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index increased to 51.7 last month from 51 in June. A private gauge of factory activity from HSBC Holdings PLC and Markit Economics rose to 51.7 last month from 50.7 the previous month. Levels of 50 or higher signal expansion.
“The government needs to ensure that bubbles don’t occur in areas such as the property market and ensuring a smooth transition for the economy. At this point in time, I think authorities are managing it pretty well,” Pengana Capital Ltd portfolio manager Tim Schroeders, said by telephone.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index traded at 13.6 times estimated earnings on Thursday, compared with 16.2 for the S&P 500, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
In other markets on Friday:
Mumbai fell 1.6 percent, or 414.13 points, from Thursday to finish on 25,480.84.
Wellington closed 1.12 percent, or 58.06 points, down at 5,109.93.
Manila rose 0.43 percent, or 29.41 points, to end on 6,894.23.
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (better known as Foxconn) ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose 60 places to reach No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc. at 348th, Pegatron Corp. at 461st, CPC Corp., Taiwan at 494th and Wistron Corp. at 496th. According to Fortune, the world’s
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
DIVERSIFYING: Taiwanese investors are reassessing their preference for US dollar assets and moving toward Europe amid a global shift away from the greenback Taiwanese investors are reassessing their long-held preference for US-dollar assets, shifting their bets to Europe in the latest move by global investors away from the greenback. Taiwanese funds holding European assets have seen an influx of investments recently, pushing their combined value to NT$13.7 billion (US$461 million) as of the end of last month, the highest since 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Over the first half of this year, Taiwanese investors have also poured NT$14.1 billion into Europe-focused funds based overseas, bringing total assets up to NT$134.8 billion, according to data from the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (SITCA),
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