Asian stock markets were mixed in early trading Thursday, after a tech selloff on Wall Street.
Stocks continued to lag in Japan, with the market’s weakness being led by airlines as investors are concerned about near-term tourist activity after a pair of natural disasters the past few days. A major earthquake hit the northern island of Hokkaido early Thursday, coming after Typhoon Jebi hit western Japan on Tuesday. Agriculture and mining were the only Topix subindexes of the 33 that were higher, coming as the Nikkei
NIK, -0.29%
was off a relatively modest 0.2%. Japan Airlines
9201, -1.09%
was off 1.1%, and ANA
9202, -0.93%
was off 1%, while cosmetics maker Kose
4922, -1.02%
shed 1% after yesterday’s 6.7% slide. Nintendo
7974, -3.20%
fell more than 4% but Sony
6758, +1.36%
rose almost 1%.
Hong Kong stocks dropped to session lows as Tencent continued to sink lower after Wednesday’s worst closing price in a year. The Hang Seng
HSI, -0.64%
was down 0.5% as Tencent
0700, -2.52%
fell 2% more, making up more than one-third of the index’s decline. Meanwhile, pan-Asia insurer AIA
1299, -1.22%
hit a six-month low as pressure on regional currencies lingers.
Chinese stocks posted modest gains, with the Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, +0.17%
, down six of the past seven trading days, up 0.2% while smaller-cap indexes in Shenzhen
399106, -0.07%
rose about the same. The past week’s softness has pushed the market toward last month’s multiyear lows, with worries about economic growth and U.S. trade relations remaining front of mind.
Korea’s Kospi
SEU, +0.02%
rose slightly, though index heavyweight Samsung
005930, -1.07%
fell almost 1%. Hyundai Motor
005380, +4.26%
jumped a further 4.2% to put the week’s gain at more than 8%.
Australia’s index
XJO, -1.19%
was at session lows with a 1% decline — though telecom Telstra
TLS, +3.81%
shot up after lowering its annual guidance — and New Zealand’s NZX 50
NZ50GR, -1.31%
dropped 1.4%.
Taiwan’s Taiex
Y9999, -0.63%
slipped 0.2%, while benchmarks in Singapore
STI, +0.04%
and Indonesia
JAKIDX, -3.76%
posted modest gains.
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Source : MTV
