Market Update
Asian markets opened with losses Friday, tracking overnight Wall Street losses but Mumbai-listed stocks posted a smart recovery in the final hours of trade.
Among the losers, the Nikkei plunged 3.3% to a three-week low. The Shanghai Composite gave up 0.7% while the Hang Seng was down 1%. Australia’s All Ordinaries retreated 1.5%.But Mumbai’s
Sensex added 0.2%, clawing back earlier losses after data released mid-session showed inflation eased to a nine-month low of 4.68% in February.
Elsewhere, the mood was glum following China's weak data out yesterday. A number of economists reset their growth targets for the world's second biggest economy with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch now projecting a 7.3% growth this quarter from an earlier estimate of 8%.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at the close of the Chinese legislature's annual meeting that corporate bond defaults are likely to increase and have to be tolerated. Last week, Keqiang said the country's economy may drop to a growth rate less than 7.5%.
The Japanese yen was little changed after the minutes released from the Bank of Japan meeting were as expected. The minutes showed several BoJ members as saying the decision last month to expand pro-growth lending tools should not be considered as additional monetary easing.
Stocks on the Move
Exporters were expectedly lower as the dollar bought 101.69 yen. Renesas Electronics Corp. fell 6.3% while index heavyweight Sony shed 4.2%. Panasonic, Olympus, Toshiba and Sharp all fell in a range between 3.5% to 4%. Konami gave up 5%.
Obayashi Corp. was down 2.9% despite a broker upgrade.
In Hong Kong, real estate major New World Development plunged about 14% after it revealed plans to privatize its China unit, New World China Land, for HKD6.8 per share, a premium of 32% over the previous day's closing price. Shares of New World China Land skyrocketed almost 29%.
Insurance major Ping An Insurance fell 1.1% after the company reported 2013 net profit at 28.15 billion yuan, missing projections.
Aussie markets got their first chance to react to the disappointing China data released after the Sydney market close yesterday. Resources fell with index leader BHP Billiton down 2% and Fortescue Metals 2.7% lower. OZ Minerals was down 5.2% while Atlas Iron weakened 6.7%. Rio Tinto was down 2.5%.
The Sensex tracked its regional peers lower but jumped back on it feet after the release of inflation data. Gainers on the 30-share benchmark index included BHEL, L&T, Dr. Reddys Lab, Cipla, Tata Steel and Sun Pharma, up in the range of 1.5% to 2.5% each.
On the flipside, Ranbaxy Labs lost 3.2% after the country's apex court issued notices to the company for allegedly selling sub-standard and adulterated drugs.