Asian markets kicked off the week on a downbeat note on Monday, with Shanghai tumbling to a multi-year low, while losses for Samsung Electronics Co. weighed in South Korea.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index finished positive by 14.63 points, or 0.2%, to 9,085.39
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong shed another 81.36 points, or 0.4%, to 19,798.67
South Korean indices was off 0.1%, as Samsung Electronics suffered its worst one-day decline in four years, ending 7.8% lower. The tech major’s shares are currently the Kospi’s top component, with a weighting of 17% as of Friday.
A U.S. court decided to award rival technology firm Apple Inc. $1.05 billion U.S. in damages after finding that Samsung had infringed six Apple patents.
The jury also found that Apple did not infringe any Samsung Electronics patents and didn’t award damages to the Korean firm
Asia’s moves came after Wall Street shares rose sharply Friday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated in a letter that the U.S. central bank has more tools, if needed, to stimulate the economy.
Android-smartphone maker ZTE Corp. dropped 7.1% in Hong Kong after the Apple patent win, while HTC Corp. traded down 1.9% in Taipei.
Commodity-linked firms were mostly lower in Hong Kong, with PetroChina Co. down 1.6%, while China Coal Energy Co. retreated 1.9%.
The yen remained relatively weak against its major rivals Monday, as the U.S. dollar bought ¥78.72 Monday, up from ¥78.70 in late North American trading Friday.
Some of the Japan’s top technology firms — often sensitive to foreign-exchange moves — were among the best performers in Tokyo. Pioneer Corp. rose 4.4%, and Panasonic Corp. advanced 0.7%.
Olympus Corp. jumped 4.4% in Tokyo after announcing Friday that it plans to sell a mobile-phone sales subsidiary for about $674 million U.S.
Sharp Corp. surged 2.6%, amid reports the company’s management was due to meet with the head of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. to discuss the price and size for the latter’s planned investment in Sharp.
The original deal, announced in March, called for Hon Hai to buy just under 10% of Sharp, and the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday that the size of the purchase would stay the same, even as the price is likely to be cut due to the drop in Sharp shares.
Hon Hai — which, with its anchor subsidiary Foxconn, supplies Apple — rose 0.7% in Taipei.
Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly in talks with South Korean telecom firms SK Telecom Co., up 0.8%, and KT Corp., up 0.5%, over the launch of its next phone in South Korea, which may be now be delayed if Samsung is able to secure a sales ban, the Korea Times reported.
On the downside in Tokyo, pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo Co. fell 2% after it announced, along with U.S. partner Eli Lilly & Co., that a phase III study involving a treatment for types of angina and myocardial infarction failed to meet a primary objective.
Nomura Holdings Inc. declined 1.4%. A report from Reuters said that the bank is planning hundreds of job cuts, mostly in equities and investment banking and primarily in its European operations.
Kansai Electric Power Co. gave up 5.3% after the Nikkei reported that the firm won’t pay an interim dividend for the first time since 1980.
Toll Holdings Ltd. lost 0.9% in Sydney. The firm posted a 77% slide in annual net profit after taking a write-down from its Japanese freight business, which was hurt by last year’s disastrous earthquake and tsunami.
Miners climbed in Sydney, however, with Rio Tinto Ltd. higher by 0.6% and Alumina Ltd. jumping 2.1%
CHINA
Credit Agricole strategists also said hopes for stimulus from China were kept alive after Premier Wen Jiabao said in a weekend radio address that the nation needs policies to help struggling exporters.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index fell 47.47 points, or 2.1%, to 2,228.20
Underscoring the deteriorating situation, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed a 5.4% decline in profit for China’s major industrial enterprises for July compared with the year-ago period.
Notable decliners in Shanghai included Citic Securities Co., down 5.3%; Dongfeng Automobile Co., down 2.5%, and Air China Ltd., up 0.2%.
Aluminum Corp. of China ended 4% lower following disclosure late Friday of a first-half net loss of 3.25 billion yuan ($511.2 million U.S.).
But China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., better known as Sinopec, saw its shares up 3.4% as its 41% fall in first-half profit reported Sunday nonetheless beat expectations
In other markets
Korea’s Kospi index ditched 1.94 points, or 0.1%, to 1,917.87
The Singapore Straits Times Index fell six points, or 0.2%, to 3,044.49
Taiwan’s Taiex Index subtracted 9.31 points, or 0.1%, to 7,468.22
New Zealand’s NZX index inched forward 0.64 points to 3,623.73
Australia’s ASX Index let go of 5.30 points, or 0.1%, to 4,343.70
