Market Update
The Nikkei fell sharply Wednesday as it returned from a four-day extended weekend break to find a stronger yen and weak overnight cues from the U.S.
The Nikkei fell 2.9%. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.9% while the Hang Seng lost 1%. The Sensex gave up 0.8% and the All Ordinaries also ended 0.8% lower.
Data in Sydney out earlier in the day showed retail sales in March missed consensus estimates, rising just 0.1% from a month earlier, much lower than expectations for a 0.4% rise. For the March quarter, sales were up 1.2% compared with expectations for a 1.5% increase.
Also earlier, HSBC's Hong Kong manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 49.7 in April, down from 49.9 in March. HSBC's Hong Kong services PMI also showed a decline, although still in expansion mode. The index for April fell to 51.4 from 51.9 in March.
Stocks on the Move
The yen traded at 101.45 to the dollar late noon, compared with 102.20 from when the market last traded.
Exporters expectedly tumbled with Sony down 2.2% and Panasonic 3.4% lower. Canon was down 2.7% while Olympus fell 3.5%. Toshiba gave up 2.5%.
Konami Corp. and Renesas Electronics both tumbled 4.5% each while Hitachi was down 4%.
Tire-maker Bridgestone skidded 2.4% while auto major Toyota reversed 2.1%. Mazda Motor was down 4.9% while Nissan and Honda were down 2.9% each, respectively.
Fuji Heavy dropped 4.2%.
Softbank was up initially after Alibaba filed for its initial public offering in the U.S. The stock quickly gave up all its gains and was down 5.1% ahead of its results. The company forecast a fall of 8% in full-year operating profit as it reported results after the market close.
Fast Retailing was down 3.4% even as it announced its April sales for its Uniqlo chain rose 3.3%.
Asahi Group Holdings was up 0.1% after the beverage-maker reported a more than doubling of its first-quarter operating profit.
In Hong Kong, Lenovo was down 3.1% even as t unveiled its Chromebooks, the N20 and N20p.
Giordano plunged 16.8% after the company issued a profit warning for the first-half.
HSBC was up 0.1% after it said its Australian unit had struck a deal to sell Woolworths’ credit-card portfolio to Macquarie. The lender later reported results in European market hours.
On the mainland, pork-related stocks fell after China’s state planner said the government would start a second round of stockpiling to prop up falling prices.
In Sydney, Macquarie shares were down 1.1% while Woolworths was off 0.7%.
Among the major miners, BHP Billiton was down 1.3% while Rito Tinto fell 1.5%. Fortescue Metals dropped 3.5% while Atlas Iron weakened 4.6%.
Retailers were lower after the weak sales numbers with Myer Holdings and David Jones both down half a percent each. Harvey Norman ended flat while Wesfarmers fell a percent.
In Mumbai, Infosys dropped 3.1% after a broker downgrade and was the top loser on the Sensex.
Other losers included HDFC, down 2.8%, Hindalco, down 2.2%, and Cipla, down 2.1%.
Gail India, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, Airtel, and Tata Power all fell in a range between 1% and 1.8%.
The market mood was cautious ahead of elections results on May 16.