Asian Markets Fall; Track Wall Street Losses
Japanese markets led declines for Asian stocks Friday tracking sharp losses on Wall Street overnight as the Nasdaq suffered its worst day since late 2011.
Markets across Asia were spooked by the scale of the losses as the Nasdaq Composite ended Thursday down 129.79 points, or 3.1%, its worst single-day drop since November 2011 while the S&P 500 too ended sharply lower, down 2.1%.
Suffering a knock-down effect, the Nikkei fell 2.5% to a six-month low. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.4% while the Hang Seng dropped 0.6%. The Sensex gave up 0.7% and the All Ordinaries lost 1%.
The yen rose, pressuring exporters' stocks.
Earlier today in Asia, data showed China's consumer prices rose 2.4% in March, just shy of expectations for a 2.5% increase while producer price inflation fell more-than-expected. Government data showed the PPI fell to an annual rate of 2.3%, faster than a 2% fall in February.
Stocks on the Move
Among the big losers in Tokyo, Fast Retailing plunged 9.2% while Softbank Corp. fell 4.5%. Fast Retailing warned investors of a drop in first-half profit.
Other big losers included Nomura Holdings, down 2.7% while Daiwa fell 3.2%.
Toyota and Honda edged up marginally and were among the few gainers.
Also outperforming the market, Sumitomo Metal Mining gained over 2% following an upbeat demand forecast from U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa for the metal.
In Hong Kong, the major banks were mostly lower with ICBC and China Construction Bank Corp. both down 1.6% each. Insurers Ping An and China Life Insurance fell 6% and 6.4% each, respectively.
Tencent Holdings fell 5.2% following sharp losses for the tech-heavy Nasdaq overnight. However, Lenovo gained 1.1%.
The top loser in Mumbai was HDFC, down 2.4%. M&M, Maruti Suzuki, SSLT, Gail India, L&T, Hero MotoCorp, Wipro, and Bajaj Auto all fell in a range between 1% and 1.6%.
In Sydney, shares of Bank of Queensland were in a trading halt pending an announcement from the lender on an acquisition and on its capital raising plans.
Coca-Cola Amatil plunged over 14% after a profit warning. The company said it would go through a strategic review to cut costs and increase productivity.
