Shares slipped in Asia on Friday after benchmarks on Wall Street had their biggest drop in four weeks as investors registered disappointment over an inflation reading that came in hotter than expected.
Oil prices and US futures also declined after the S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent on Thursday following news that inflation at the wholesale level slowed by less than economists had forecast.
It echoed a report on prices at the consumer level from earlier in the week that suggested inflation was not cooling as quickly and as smoothly as hoped.
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Stocks have swung between gains and losses recently on worries that persistently high inflation would push the US Federal Reserve to get even more aggressive on interest rates. Higher rates can drive down inflation, but also drag on investment prices and raise the risk of a serious recession.
“Continued strength in the inflation data suggests the Fed’s work is still not finished, and risks of a longer cycle are rising,” SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said in a report.
Taiwan’s TAIEX fell 0.46 percent to close at 15,479.7 on turnover of NT$210.095 billion (US$6.91 billion). It was down 0.69 percent from the previous week.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.66 percent to 27,513.13, down 0.57 percent for the week, while the broader TOPIX lost 0.46 percent to 1,991.93, but gained 0.25 percent from the previous week.
South Korea’s sank 0.98 percent to 2,451.21, down 0.75 percent from the previous week, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2.28 percent to close at 20,719.81, down 2.22 percent from the previous week.
Shares in one of China’s top investment banks, China Renaissance Holdings Ltd’s (華興資本), plunged after the company said in a filing to Hong Kong’s stock exchange that it had lost touch with chairman and chief executive officer, Bao Fan (包凡).
Bao’s disappearance followed a crackdown on technology companies in the past two years that officials in China said had been wrapped up.
The Shanghai Composite gave up 0.77 percent to 3,224.02, down 1.12 percent for the week, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.86 percent to 7,346.8, for a weekly drop of 1.17 percent.
India’s SANSEX fell 0.52 percent to 61,002.57, up 0.53 percent from the previous week.
Bangkok’s SET fell 0.4 percent to 1,651.67, down 0.77 percent weekly, after the government reported that the economy grew at a meager 2.6 percent annual pace last year.
The economy slowed more than expected in the last quarter of the year, to a 1.3 percent annual expansion, as a rebound in tourism failed to make up for weaker exports. On a quarterly basis GDP fell 1.5 percent in the October-to-December period.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
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