Market Update
Asian markets were trading lower Friday, following overnight losses on Wall Street. But mainland Chinese stocks bucked the trend on the back of gains in property developers.
The Shanghai Composite recovered from yesterday's losses and was trading up 0.7% at the time of writing.
But other indexes in the region extended yesterday's slide after weak flash China PMI data raised concerns about slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
Overnight cues from Wall Street were also not encouraging. Stocks in the U.S. closed Thursday's session in the red, as investors digested a few corporate results amid Chinese growth worries.
Among the regional bourses, Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 1.4% while Sydney's All Ordinaries lost 0.2%. Mumbai's BSE Sensex was down 0.4% at .
Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.5% as a stronger yen exerted additional pressure on the equities.
The dollar turned lower against most major currencies after the release of the weekly jobless claims data yesterday in the U.S. The yen was trading up 0.12% at 103.40 at the time of writing
Stocks on the Move
A stronger currency weighed on exporters in Tokyo. Among the top losers, Panasonic Corp. fell 2.6%, Honda Motor Co. erased 1.5% while chipmaker Sumco Corp. deleted 3.2%.
Financials and resources stocks were also broadly lower -- Kobe Steel retreated 1.6% while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group erased more than 2% each.
In corporate news, Uniqlo apparel stores operator Fast Retailing said it plans to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange as part of its efforts to boost its brand recognition in China. Shares of Fast Retailing were down 1.7%, though.
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. edged up 0.4% after the automaker said it would take its alliance with Renault a step ahead by pooling their manufacturing facilities and bringing production and development departments under joint operations management.
In Hong Kong, Lenovo Group jumped 3.5% after the personal computer giant said it would purchase IBM's low-end server business for $2.3 billion.
Metal players were also on the upside with gold miner Zijin Mining adding nearly 2.5% while Jiangxi Copper and Aluminum Corp. of China gained around a percent each.
But financials wiped out these gains. Index heavyweight and global banking giant HSBC Holdings erased 0.5% while Hang Seng Bank lost 0.7%.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 1.3% after the bank reportedly said it will help rescue investors in a troubled high-yield investment scheme.
On the mainland, property developers led the index higher. Gemdale Corp. rose 2.3% while Poly Real Estate Group bounced over 4%. China Vanke jumped 4.5% in Shenzhen.
In Sydney, banks and retailers were trading weak amid growth concerns. Top banks NAB and Westpac Banking were down around 0.5% while ANZ lost 1.2%.
Retailer Reject Shop Ltd. sank 29% leading the declines for retailers after the discount store operator forecast a decline in profit for the first fiscal half.
Myer Holdings lost 3.3% while David Jones gave up 3.6%.
But miners helped curtail some of these losses. Leading metal explorer BHP Billiton edged up 0.2% and Rio Tinto tacked on a percent while gold miners Newcrest Mining and Perseus Mining enjoyed robust gains, up 4.8% and 9.3% respectively.
Ranbaxy Laboratories tumbled 15.5% in Mumbai after health regulators in the U.S. banned imported drugs from an overseas unit operated by Ranbaxy due to quality control violations.
Top losers on the Sensex included BHEL (down 2.7%), Tata Motors (down 2.4%), Tata Steel (down 1.9%) and HDFC Bank (down 1.8%).