The selloff moves were mainly sparked after China's finance minister, who overnight quashed hopes of further economic stimulus by saying the government won't make drastic changes to its economic policies because of weakness in one economic indicator.
Concerns about slowing economic growth in China resurfaced after many economists lowered growth forecasts of words second largest economy after latest set of weak economic data. UBS shaved its full-year forecast to 7.2% from 7.3%. Barclays Capital reduced its projection to 7.2% from 7.4. ING cut its forecast to 7.4 from 7.5%.
China's HSBC flash manufacturing PMI reading on Tuesday. All eyes will be on flash PMI after the recent spate of soft data, especially industrial production and property prices last week. The psychological effect of a below-50 reading is expected to be significant.
Among Asian bourses
Nikkei falls 0.71% from seven-year high
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Japanese share market declined, as investors withdrew some profit off the table after the benchmark indices climbed to nearly seven-years high on last Friday and ahead of a holiday break for the market on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 index, which on Friday closed at its highest level since November 2007, fell 115.27 points, or 0.71%, to close at 16205.90. The Topix index of all first-section shares was down 0.08%, or 1.03 points, at 1330.88.
Shares of shipping companies declined the most in the 33 Topix industry groups on tracking plunge in shipping freight rate index. The Baltic Dry Index of commodity shipping costs slid 1.3% on Sept. 19, its seventh straight drop. Kawasaki Kisen dropped 2.8% to 244 yen. Mitsui OSK Lines sank 1.1% to 361 yen.
SoftBank shares tumbled 6.1% to 8,207 yen on profit taking after Japan's third-largest phone carrier gained 29% between Aug. 8 and Alibaba's listing on Sept. 19. SoftBank is the biggest shareholder in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba with about a third of its equity.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp shares rose 4.1% to 1310 yen after announcing a memorandum of understanding with Italy's Fiat Group Automobiles SpA that could involve production of a mid-size pickup truck.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp shares rose 2.6% to 357 yen on reports that the company was looking to buy Hitachi Tool Engineering. Hitachi Metals, which owns Hitachi Tool, rose 1.3% to 1930 yen.
Aussie shares suffer biggest fall in six weeks
Australian share market declined for the first time in straight three sessions, amid profit booking across the board, with shares of mining companies being major losers after iron-ore prices dropped to a fresh five-year low. All Ordinaries Index both declined by 1.3% to 5363 and 5368.20, respectively. Turnover was relatively strong with 1.82 billion shares worth of A$4.09 billion traded today.
Materials and resources stocks declined, with iron-ore producers being harder hit as the price of the commodity continued to fall, with Fortescue Metals Group falling 1.8% to A$34.86, BC Iron losing 6.3% to A$1.86 and Atlas Iron sliding 5.4% to A$0.53. Other major mining names saw similar losses, with resources giant BHP Billiton dropped 1.8% to A$34.86 and main rival Rio Tinto erased 2.5% to A$60.05.
Iron Ore Holdings stumbled 6.8% after the company said it would delay the first shipments of ore from its Iron Valley operations to the fourth quarter because of the weak iron-ore price. Spot iron-prices fell 1.6% on Friday to US$81.70 a ton.
Laboratory testing services provider ALS was down 17.2% to A$5.77 after issuing a profit warning pointing to lower demand from clients in the resources sector.
Shanghai Composite falls 1.7%
Mainland China share market closed sharply down, snapping three sessions of rising streak, amid profit booking across the board. The selloff triggered after media report that China is about to cut its official 7.5% growth economic growth target for 2014 and on caution ahead of HSBC's China manufacturing purchasing manufacturers' index on Tuesday, a closely watched as an indicator of demand. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index declined 39.59 points, or 1.7%, to finish at 2289.87. The CSI 300 index lost 50.29 points, or 1.91%, to 2378.92.
Hang Seng ends 1.44% down
Hong Kong share market ended lower, following a weak lead from the mainland A-share market and other regional bourses, which were down on concerns about China's economic growth and on caution ahead of HSBC's preliminary read on Chinese manufacturing activity. The Hang Seng Index closed 350.67 points, or 1.44%, down at 23955.49. Market turnover reduced to HK$72.35 billion, compared to the last Friday turnover of HK$94.72 billion.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed Chinese property developers declined amid reports about a group of property companies in the northern city of Handan set to default on allegedly illegal private loans worth 9.3 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). China Resources Land dropped 3.1% to HK$16.76 and Sino-Ocean Land Holdings tumbled 2% to HK$4.40. Sunac China Holdings declined 3.4% to HK$5.63, Evergrande Real Estate Group lost 2.2% to HK$3.09, Country Garden Holdings Co dropped 2.2% to HK$3.08, and Poly Property Group Co gave up 2.2% to HK$3.16. Mainland developer Agile Property Holdings sank 7.2% to HK$5.39 after it said it planned to raise 2.7 billion yuan through a rights issue.
Sino Land (00083) plunged 4% to HK$12.44, after Barclays said in a research report that it sees downside risk to HK property sector.
CR Power (00836) dipped 1.9% to HK$22.65 after its president Wang Yu Jun was in criminal detention on charges of corruption and bribery.
Sensex, Nifty register modest gains
Fall in global crude oil and industrial metal prices triggered a strong intraday rebound on the Indian bourses at the onset of the week. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 116.32 points or 0.43% to settle at 27,206.74. The CNX Nifty rose 24.85 points or 0.31% to settle at 8,146.30.
Among Indian blue chips, Punjab National Bank gained on fund raising plans. Colgate Palmolive (India) rose after declaring first interim dividend for the year ending 31 March 2015.
Jewellery makers gained on hopes of increased demand during upcoming festive season and as fall in gold prices could lure customers for more purchases. Gitanjali Gems (up 6.55%), Titan Company (up 2.33%) and PC Jeweller (up 19.53%) edged higher.
Metal and mining stocks declined on lower industrial metals and iron ore prices in global markets today, 22 September 2014. Sesa Sterlite (down 0.25%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.37%), JSW Steel (down 2.95%), Tata Steel (down 1.86%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (down 2.88%), and NMDC (down 0.89%) declined. Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.56%) gained.
Shares of state-run upstream oil and gas companies rose on hopes subsidy burden of these companies could fall along with fall in global crude oil prices. ONGC (up 3.48%), GAIL (India) (up 0.99%) and Oil India (up 1.5%) gained.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region-- Taiwan's Taiex index declined 1.14% to 9134.65. South Korea's KOSPI index lost 0.71% to 2039.27. Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.26% to 3296.57. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index fell 0.15% to 5219.80. Malaysia's KLCI dropped 0.19% to 1846.05. New Zealand's NZX50 jumped 1.06% to 5236.29, driven higher by power-company stocks, after John Key won a third term as prime minister..
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