Japanese stocks fell Tuesday as the yen strengthened and some disappointing earnings reports weighed, while shares in Sydney jumped after a bigger-than-expected interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
The Nikkei 225 Index in Japan tumbled 169.64 points, or 1.8%, to 9,350.95
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong raced ahead 352.76 points, or 1.7%, to 21,094.21
The gains in Sydney came after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut its key cash rate by 0.5 percentage points to 3.75%, surprising markets that had priced in a quarter-point cut to interest rates
Earlier, gains for Australian stocks gathered steam after official Chinese manufacturing data showed further improvement for the sector.
Still, market reaction to the Chinese data appeared muted, with Chinese markets, along with those in Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, closed for a public holiday.
The Japanese share market, returning Tuesday from a three-day weekend, saw losses for exporters as the U.S. dollar fell below the ¥80 mark overnight for the first time since late February.
The dollar’s weakness against the Japanese currency, along with mild losses for U.S. shares, followed a soft reading on Chicago manufacturing and further worries about the euro-zone.
In Tokyo trade, shares of TDK Corp. plunged 6.6%, Sony Corp. dropped 3.9% and Toyota Motor Corp. slid 3.5%.
Japan investors were also catching up with corporate earnings. Nippon Electric Glass Co. tumbled 8.6% after issuing weaker-than-expected profit guidance, while Sharp Corp. slumped 9.3% after posting its worst-ever fiscal-year loss on Friday.
Honda Motor Co. surrendered 3.4% after its profit growth missed estimates, although it also forecast its profit for the fiscal year ending March 2013 would double.
Banks were broadly weaker after a poor session for financials in Europe Monday. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services took an axe to ratings for 16 Spanish lenders in the wake of a double-notch downgrade of Spain’s credit rating last week.
Among Japanese financial names, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. fell 3.4%, while Daiwa Securities Group Inc dropped 5.9%.
Nomura Holdings Inc. traded down 4.6%, failing to draw support from a forecast-beating 86% increase in quarterly net profit.
Australian banking shares ended well off the day’s lows after the RBA surprise decision.
National Australia Bank Ltd. finished 0.1% lower, while Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. climbed 0.3% and Commonwealth Bank of Australia advanced 1.7%
Sydney-listed retailers also advanced, amid hope that consumer spending could start to pick up a bit under the lower rates, with department-store owner David Jones Ltd. up 2% and rival Myer Holdings Ltd. 3% higher.
Among other movers, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. Rallied 3.7%, after announcing the sale of a minority stake in its Browse gas-export project in Australia to a Japanese consortium for $2 billion U.S.
Among the consortium’s key members, Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp. dropped 2.1% and rival Mitsui & Co. lost 1.8% in the downbeat Tokyo market.
In other markets:
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Composite Index faded 5.33 points, or 0.2%, to 2,626.16
Korea’s Kospi Index inched up 6.64 points, or 0.3%, to 1,981.99
Taiwan’s Taiex Index grew 21.22 points, or 0.3%, to 7,501.72
New Zealand’s NXZ Index gained 21.45 points, or 0.6%, to 3,577.32
Australia’s ASX Index picked up 32.93 points, or 0.8%, to 4,492.51
