Chinese stocks tumbled Monday on concerns Beijing won’t ease policies despite slowing growth, with the losses also dragging down other regional markets.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 200.67 points, or 1.4%, to 14,109.34. The benchmark had risen more than 1% earlier in the session on buying inspired by a better-than-expected increase in U.S. jobs and further weakness in the yen.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 272.48 points, or 1.3%, to 20,582.19
Financial and property sector shares were hit in Hong Kong, with China Construction Bank Corp. sliding 2.1%, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. skidding 1.7%, and Hang Lung Properties Ltd. losing 3.8%.
Also on the downside, major miners fell in Sydney, with BHP Billiton Ltd. dropping 1.8%, and Rio Tinto Ltd. losing 1.9%.
Some energy names also retreated, as PetroChina Co. dropped 2.1% in Hong Kong, and Oil Search Ltd. slipped 0.3% in Sydney, although U.S. benchmark crude-oil prices topped $103 a barrel.
Several Japanese exporters declined against the backdrop of Chinese economic worries, even as the U.S. dollar extended gains above ¥101 to weigh on the broader market. Honda Motor Co. fell 2.1%, and Sony Corp declined 2%.
Shares of Softbank Corp. tumbled 3.4% after Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit ratings on the telecommunications firm by two notches to BB+, below investment grade. S&P based the ratings action on its view that following Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp., the Japanese group has a "'satisfactory' business risk profile and a 'significant' financial risk profile."
Data released earlier on Monday showed the country’s current-account surplus narrowed to ¥540.7 billion ($5.33 billion U.S.) in May, missing expectations, though marking the first back-to-back surplus in more than two years.
Meanwhile, shares of Asiana Airlines Inc. slumped 5.8% in Seoul after a Boeing 777 aircraft operated by the airline crashed in San Francisco, killing at least two and injuring more than 180 others.
CHINA
The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 dropped 63.23 points, or 2.8%, to 2,163.62, with the retreat coming amid caution ahead of the release of China’s monthly inflation data Tuesday.
In a statement Friday elaborating on its pursuit of economic restructuring and reforms, the State Council — China’s cabinet — indicated it would strengthen supervision of wealth-management products and emphasized financial-market stability, but also hinted it would loosen controls on banks’ interest rates only gradually.
The State Council also suggested tighter controls over credit to industries with excess production capacity.
The drop came in the wake of a string of economic downgrades by brokerages in recent weeks, including from Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Barclays and Credit Suisse. On Monday, Citigroup joined the list, cutting its forecast of China’s gross domestic product for 2013 to 7.4% from 7.6% previously, and for 2014 to 7.1% from 7.3%.
On mainland Chinese bourses, shares of Shandong Gold-Mining Co. plunged 9.4%, and those of Jiangxi Copper Co. fell 5.6%.
Coal miner China Shenhua Energy Co. slumped 9%, also hurt as the stock traded without rights to a dividend.
In other markets;
Taiwan’s Taiex Index plummeted 115.48 points, or 1.4%, to 7,886.34
Singapore’s Straits Times Index skidded 14.26 points, or 0.5%, to 3,155.47
Korea’s Kospi Index shed 16.46 points, or 0.9%, to 1,816.85
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index inched higher 3.43 points, or 0.1%, to 4,493.30
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gave back 32.22 points, or 0.7%, to 4,809.53
