Skip to Content
Market Update

Shanghai Drags Asia Down; Sensex Bucks Trend

Most Asian markets logged sharp losses Monday after a number of negative data points from both China and Japan.

The Nikkei fell 1%. The Shanghai Composite slumped 2.9% while the Hang Seng dropped 1.7%. The Sensex bucked the trend, up 0.1% % while the All Ordinaries was down 0.8%.

Data over the weekend showed China swung to a trade deficit as exports unexpectedly dropped 18.1% over the last year after climbing 10.6% in January. Also, the consumer price index came in at 2.0% in February, a 13-month low while the producer price index fell 2.0%.

Official data in Japan revealed gross domestic product grew just 0.2% in October-December.

Data also showed Japan reported its fourth consecutive current account deficit in January at 1.589 trillion yen, more than the 1.4 trillion yen that was projected.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan is expected to keep monetary policy unchanged.

Later in the day in Europe, France is to release data on industrial production while retail sales data and a government measure of consumer spending are expected from Switzerland.

Stocks on the Move

Exporters in Japan were down but Sony gained 1.1% on news after the market close Friday confirming the sale of its previous headquarters and another property for almost $160 million.

Daiichi Sankyo fell 1.6%. Its Indian subsidiary Ranbaxy issued yet another recall of its generic Lipitor cholesterol drug – due to some bottles containing higher-dose tablets, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Fujitsu dropped 2.4% and Pioneer Corp. gave up 1.8%.

In auto, bellwether Toyota reversed 1.2% while Honda was down 2.1%.

Airline stocks and insurers were all lower in Hong Kong after the mysterious disappearance of a Malaysian Airlines jet Friday from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. China Southern Airlines sank 4.2% while China Eastern and Air China were both down over 1.5% and 2.5% respectively. Ping An Insurance fell nearly 2% while China Life Insurance was down 2.3%.

China Mobile fell over 3% after its chairman said that the company plans to cut the price of its 4G service after receiving complaints that it was too steep.

The Sensex ended slightly higher even as it touched the 22,000-mark after a stellar performance last week. The top gainers were Maruti Suzuki, up 3.8%, Mahindra & Mahindra, up 3.4% and L&T, up 3.3%.

Among banks, HDFC Bank rose over 3% while SBI was up 2.6%.

The broader market-listed Ranbaxy Laboratories fell 1.5%.

Aussie miners were spooked by the Chinese data and BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto sank 4.1% and 5.8%, respectively.

Other resources also all posted significant losses with Atlas Iron down 10.1% and BlueScope Steel around 2% lower.

Among the few winners in the market, Leighton Holdings jumped over 11% while Pacific Brands gained almost 10%.

Sponsor Center