Asian stock markets ended firmly lower Friday as early optimism for progress on the U.S. "fiscal cliff" was dented after Republican lawmakers canceled a vote on a tax-cut plan.
The Nikkei 225 Index in Japan faded 99.27 points Friday, or 1%, to 9,940.06
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index capsized 153.49 points, or 0.7%, to 22,506.
Regional stocks retreated after U.S. House Republican leaders on Thursday evening canceled a vote on a “Plan B” bill, which would have extended tax cuts on incomes below $1 million, saying they didn’t have the votes to pass.
The performance capped a mixed performance for Asian stock benchmarks on the week, with the Nikkei Average rising 2.1% and China’s Shanghai Composite inching up 0.1%, while the Kospi gave up 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.4%.
Energy firms were weighing in Hong Kong, with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. down 1.4%, and Cnooc Ltd. falling 0.4%, as benchmark U.S. oil futures briefly dropped below the $89-U.S.-a-barrel level on the fiscal-cliff vote news.
The dollar fell to ¥84.04 against the Japanese yen after the U.S. vote cancellation, down from ¥84.43 recorded in late North American trading on Thursday.
The advance for the yen weighed on Japanese exporters, with Panasonic Corp. declining 1.4%, Sharp Corp. losing 2.3%, and Toyota Motor Corp. dropping 2.5%.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. fell 5.8%, still reeling from a government rebuke to the company for issuing a fourth vehicle recall over the same safety issue.
In South Korean trading, heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. lost 4.1% to weigh on the Kospi, after European Union regulators said late Thursday that they plan to issue a complaint against the firm as part of a probe over patents.
Australian trading saw heavyweight miners decline amid losses for gold and palladium futures, along with oil, with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Ltd. each down 0.9%.
Qantas Airways Ltd. ended flat, outperforming a downbeat market, after reporting that it carried 6.4% more passengers in November compared to the same period a year ago.
In other markets
The Shanghai CSI 300 Composite Index slumped 12.81 points, or 0.5%, to 2,372.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell 11.96 points, or 0.4%, to 3,163.56
South Korea’s Kospi index lost 19.08 points, or 1%, to 1,980.42
Taiwan’s Taiex Index stumbled 75.53 points, or 1%, to 7,519.93
New Zealand’s NZX 50 slipped 20.71 points, or 0.5%, to 4,054.74
Australia’s ASX Index fell 10.53 points, or 0.2%, to 4,623.58
