Hong Kong stocks were battered Monday as property players tumbled after HSBC Holdings' local banking unit raised mortgage rates by a half-point because of rising funding costs. Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. slumped after three European countries were forced to rescue Fortis, in which the insurance major has a stake.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 149.55 points or 1.26% at 11,743.61 while the Hang Seng index closed down 801.41 points or 4.29% at 17,880.68.
On the economic front, Japanese retail sales rose 0.7% in August from a year earlier, rising for the 13th straight month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. In July, retail sales rose by a revised 2.0% on year. Sales at department stores and supermarkets fell, for the fifth straight month, by 2.2% on year after adjustment for the change in the number of stores.
Stocks declined almost across the board, led by sea transport, mining and trading houses.
Shippers extended last week's slide after the Baltic Exchange's chief freight index for global raw materials trade tumbled more than 10% on Friday. Mitsui OSK Lines plummeted 6.0% and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha slumped 6.3%.
Commodity-related stocks fell as oil prices continued to decline on Monday in the Asian session. Oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings tumbled 6.1%, Nippon Mining Holding fell 3.6%, and Nippon Oil gave away 2.0%. Trading house Mitsui & Co plunged 8.4% and Mitsubishi Corp dropped 4.9%.
Among financials, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 0.6%, but Mizuho Financial Group declined 1.5% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group shed 1.6%. Top brokerage Nomura Holdings lost 2.5% and Daiwa Securities Group lost 1.9%. Sompo Japan Insurance gave away 1.5% and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance plunged 5.0%.
Among exporters, Canon dropped 1.9%, Komatsu fell 4.7%, Toyota Motor plummeted 3.2%, Honda Motor plunged 3.9%, and Sony slipped 0.6%. Nikon jumped 1.8%.
Defensive stocks tuned mixed, with KDDI Corp rising 0.8%, Astellas Pharma advancing 0.4%, Eisai falling 1.2%, and Kao Corp losing 1.0%.
The retail sector was mostly higher following the release retail sales report for August. Fast Retailing jumped 5.1% and Seven & I Holdings advanced 1.7%.
Elsewhere:
Singapore's STI was down 1.9% at 2,364.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index closed down 0.7% at 1,832.
South Korea's Kospi fell 1.4%.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index ended little changed at 3,188.54.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 2%, also reversing initial gains.
with files from other wire services
