Market Update
Asian markets started mostly lower Monday following a sharply lower closing on Wall Street last week Friday, and further weighed by the World Bank’s lowered growth forecasts for East Asia's developing economies.
The Nikkei was down 1.9%. Mainland Chinese markets were closed for the Ching Ming festival. The Hang Seng was down 0.7% while the Sensex was off 0.2%. The All Ordinaries declined 0.3%.
Tech stocks were sold off mirroring losses in U.S. tech stocks Friday ahead of earnings releases due next week.
Over the weekend, the World Bank trimmed its 2014 growth forecast for developing East Asia but also said the region's economies were likely to record steady growth in the next couple of years. The World Bank now expects the East Asia and Pacific region to grow 7.1% in 2014 and 2015, down from an earlier forecast of 7.2%.
In other news, India begins its general election today – an effort that is set to run till May 12 in nine phases, with most tipping current opposition leader Narendra Modi to become the new Prime Minister. Modi is seen as pro-growth and is seen to be favored by most industrialists and business leaders.
Stocks on the Move
Index heavyweight Sony declined 0.4% while Panasonic fell 5.1%. NEC gave up 3.4% while Softbank fell 4.8%. Forbes reported Softbank is looking at Europe for possible acquisition targets if regulators do not permit the bid by its Sprint unit to purchase T-Mobile US.
KDDI Corp. was down 3.2% while software security firm Trend Micro retreated 2.8%.
Mazda was down 1.3%. The company issued a recall of about 42,000 vehicles saying spiders could nest in the fuel-tank vent.
Daiichi Sankyo was up 3.4% after it said it would vote in favour of an all-stock deal that would see its Indian unit Ranbaxy taken over by Sun Pharmaceuticals, creating India’s largest drug firm in the process. Daiichi Sankyo would become the second largest shareholder in Sun Parma.
Sun Pharma pared early gains of over 4% but was still up 1.6%. The broader market listed Ranbaxy fell 4.8%.
Rival pharma companies declined as Cipla fell 2.4%, and Dr. Reddy’s Lab gave up 1.6%.
RIL was down 0.2% while Airtel was off 0.3%. Airtel is set to tap the overseas bond markets with a $400 million issue later this month to repay high coast loans.
BHEL was the top loser, down 2.8% while ICICI Bank fell 2%.
Internet major Tencent was down 4.7% in Hong Kong, tracking losses of almost 6% in its ADR’s Friday. Other tech stocks were also weak.
Shares of SUV maker Great Wall Motor revved 1.4% after the company said sales increased 30% in March.
Wesfarmers was up 1.4% in Sydney. The retailer is selling its insurance broking units to Arthur J. Gallagher, totally exiting the business.
Among the major miners, BHP Billiton traded flat while Rio Tinto was up half a percent.