Market Update
Asian markets ended lower Monday following a negative lead from Wall Street last week and as the tense situation in Ukraine kept investors from risky assets.
The Nikkei fell 1%. The Shanghai Composite fell 1.6% while the Hang Seng declined 0.4%. The Sensex slipped 0.2% while the All Ordinaries ended flat.
Trading will be shortened again this week with the Nikkei closed Tuesday and most of Asia closed on Thursday for Labor Day.
Earlier today, data showed Japanese March retail sales rose 11%, in line with expectations as sales increased ahead of a hike in the sales tax to 8% from 5% that came into effect April 1.
Safe-haven assets like the yen and gold were in demand after the U.S. and other G7 nations agreed to impose more targeted sanctions against Russia even as the situation in eastern Ukraine continued to worsen. The White House said the U.S. could levy sanctions "as early as Monday."
Stocks on the Move
Toyota edged down 0.4% even as it said it plans to roll out a restructuring of its U.S. marketing operations in California.
Mazda Motor was initially higher after reporting results but succumbed to the general weakness pervading the market today. Shares closed down 0.2%.
Honda fell 4.5% while Suzuki fell 3.5%. Honda reported results Friday, revealing an increase in profit but issued a tepid full-year forecast, missing analysts’ projections.
Fanuc bucked the trend, up 0.4% after an upbeat forecast. Komatsu was also higher, up 2% after it posted a healthy increase in profit.
NTT Docomo rose 3.7%.
Sony was down 1.1% while Panasonic closed down 0.7%. Panasonic reported results after the market close, revealing a return to full-year profit from deep losses the last two years. However, the company stayed in the red for the last quarter – in the January-March period. Panasonic forecast flat sales for the year through March 2015.
Canon was down 0.8% while Olympus fell 2.1%. Sharp Corp. dropped 2.6%. Hitachi and Konami Corp. were also down over 2% each.
Retailers were mixed as the upbeat sales data was already priced. J. Front Retailing was down 1.5% but Seven & i Holdings picked up 0.9%.
Tech shares were lower in Hong Kong tracking losses in the Nasdaq last week Friday. Tencent Holdings fell 2.8% while Kingsoft Corp. dropped 6.8%.
China Life Insurance was down 2.4% after results.
Also after results, AgBank was up 0.6% while China Construction Bank Corp. ended flat. China Minsheng Bank shed 0.6%.
In Mumbai, HUL ended flat after reporting results.
L&T closed 1.6% lower. Reporting after the market close, the company said its fourth-quarter profit rose 9% from a year ago.
In Sydney, Goodman Fielder zoomed 15.5% after it said it had already rejected a bid from Singapore-listed Wilmar International.
Gold miner Newcrest brightened 4.8%.
BHP Billiton was down 1.1% while Fortescue Metals and Atlas Iron dropped 4.1% and 5.1% each, respectively.