Asia Pacific bourses commenced trading with back footing, mirroring lacklustre performance on Wall Street overnight, where soft data left investors no wiser on whether the U.S. economy's troubles were merely weather-related or something more worrisome.
Selloff in the regional bourses intensified on concerns about China economy after People's Bank of China data released on Monday indicated that new bank loans reached 644.5 billion yuan (US$105 billion) in February, down from 1.3 trillion yuan in January. Total social financing, a broad measure of liquidity and credit, fell sharply to 938.7 billion yuan from January's 2.58 trillion yuan.
Economic data released from Australia saw Australian Westpac consumer confidence dropped -0.7% in March, home loans was flat in January after December home loans was revised down from -1.9% to -3.3%. From Japan, Tertiary industry index rose 0.9% mom in January, domestics CGPI rose 1.8% yoy in February, BSI large manufacturing index rose 12.5% qoq in Q1.
Among regional bourses, Japanese stock market retreated as risk aversion selloff across the board due to yen appreciation against the greenback coupled with economic uncertainty in China and the United States, and political tensions in Ukraine. Meanwhile, selling in the local shares intensified after poor consumer confidence figures raised fresh questions about Japan's economic recovery ahead of next month's sales tax rise. The benchmark Nikkei-225 index declined 2.59% to 14830.39, while the Topix index of all first-section shares fell 2.13% at 1206.94.
The Cabinet Office released the results of its latest monthly Consumer Confidence Survey on Wednesday, showing Japan's consumer confidence index tumbled 2.2 points to a seasonally adjusted 38.3 in February, posting the third straight monthly drop after a 0.8-point drop to 40.5 in January.
Japanese exporters shares declined heavily as the yen rose the most in a more than a week against the dollar. Honda dropped 2% to 3,765 yen. Toyota Motor Corp, the world's biggest carmaker, slid 2% to 5,728 yen. Sony Corp, the maker of Bravia televisions and PlayStation game consoles, fell 1.4% to 1,840 yen.
In Australia, Australian stock market declined today, as drop in retailer, consumer goods, energy, industrial, realty and financials stocks were more than offset by gains in bullion and mining counters.
The decline in Australian market mainly triggered after latest data indicated fall in consumer sentiment to 10-month low in March and housing finance trends were flat in January 2014.
The Westpac/Melbourne Institute index of consumer confidence fell by 0.7% to a 10-month low of 99.5 points in March. A reading below 100 represents a pessimistic consumer outlook.
Australian Bureau of Statistics report showed finance approvals for new dwelling held steady at around 27, 000 in January. The flat January reading followed a 1.9% decline in December.
Shares of Australian financial and realty companies declined after latest data on finance approvals for new dwelling came short of market expectation. Commonwealth Bank of Australia declined 0.7% to A$77.75, Westpac Banking Corp 1% to A$33.94, National Australia Bank 0.6% to A$34.55 and ANZ Banking Group 0.5% to A$32.18. Stockland fell 0.8% to A$3.85, Westfield 1% to A$10.34, and GPT Group 0.3% to A$3.71.
Shares of retailer and consumer goods producers dropped from the news consumer confidence fell to 10-month low in March. Food and liquor giant Woolworths fell 0.5% to A$36.45, while rival Wesfarmers, owner of Coles, lost 0.8% to A$43.11. Telstra Corporation was unchanged at $5.08.
Rare earth miner Lynas (LYC) fell another 9.3% to A$0.245, compounding 8.5% slump prior day, after the company widened its first half loss to $59.3 million. Higher costs associated with its Malaysian refinery contributed to the result. The miner announced plans to raise more cash through an equity issue or a debt restructure which was not well received by the market.
In China, Mainland China stock market finished slight lower after zigzagging between gain and losses on Wednesday, 12 March 2014, as risk sentiments hurt by lingering jitters over domestic economic growth. The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both A and B shares, dropped 3.47 points, or 0.17%, to 1997.69.
Among SSE sectors, 6/10 sectors of the SSE index advanced, with financial sector gained the most amongst the SSE sectoral peers, adding 0.8%, while energy sector was worst performer, falling 0.6%. Meanwhile, material, utilities, consumer discretionary, and healthcare issues added 0.5%, 0.4%, 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. Among decliners, consumer staples, telecommunication services and information technology sector dropped 0.6%, 0.3% and 0.3%, respectively.
Energy stocks were mostly lower as Brent crude oil fell to $108.25 a barrel. Sinopec plunged 5% while Petrochina slipped 2.2%.
Property stocks extended Tuesday's gains to provide some support. China Merchants Property and Poly Real Estate climbed nearly 6 and 3%, respectively.
Banking stocks were in focus, after the Chinese central bank announced that it was prepared to cut bank reserves should economic growth falter. Minsheng Bank and Merchants Bank rose 1.3% each.
In Hong Kong, shares in HK market were heavily back into the red, amidst ongoing concerns about the risk to global financial market stability from credit tightening in China and political tensions in the Crimean peninsula. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 367.66 points to 21901.95.
Among the HK 50 blue chips, 45 fell, and only four rose, with one stock remaining unchanged. Belle (01880) declined 9.4% to HK$8.41, compounding 9.3% slump on Tuesday, on lower same-shop sales growth. It was the top blue-chip loser. Want Want China (00151) was top performer, rising 2.1% to HK$11.6. China Mobile (00941) dropped 1.5% to HK$70.05 after hitting intra-day low of HK$69.85, which was also a two-year low.
Alibaba announced to buy a 60% stake in ChinaVision (01060), which surged 4.3 times at one point. It ended the at HK$1.83, up 186%, on heavy turnover of HK$5.51bn. Tencent (00700) declined 2.5% to HK$602 as its interest in ChinaVision will be diluted after Alibaba's purchase.
In India, key benchmark indices edged higher in choppy trade after provisional data released by the stock exchanges after trading hours on Tuesday, 11 March 2014, showed that foreign funds made substantial purchases of Indian stocks on Tuesday, 11 March 2014. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was provisionally up 39.85 points or 0.18%, off close to 100 points from the day's high and up almost equal points from the day's low.
Indian IT stocks were in demand. HCL Technologies (up 0.64%), TCS (up 1.35%), and Wipro (up 1.28%) gained. Tech Mahindra rose 0.93%. The company today, 12 March 2014, announced the launch of its Global Development Center with Alstom Transport, a world leading manufacturer of Rail Technology, on the occasion of signing of a 3-year partnership with Alstom.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, Taiwan's Taiex index sank 0.2%. South Korea's KOSPI index dropped 1.6%. New Zealand's NZX50 declined 0.11%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.42%. Malaysia's KLSE Composite shed 0.54%. Singapore's Straits Times index fell 1.02%.
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