Asian stocks fell, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average extending its slump from its close on the final day of 2013 to 10%, after a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing growth added to concern the global economic recovery is faltering.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index collapsed 295.40 points, or 2%, to 14,619.13
Hokkaido Electric Power slumped 9%, as the Japanese utility forecast a full-year loss.
Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. sank 3.6% in Sydney, extending last week’s 20% decline after the maker of Penfolds Grange wine said earnings fell. Fanuc Corp. advanced 3.3% in Tokyo after orders at the factory-robotics maker topped projections.
Kansai Electric Power slumped 7.8% after its forecast of a 98 billion yen net loss was wider than analysts expected. Kyushu Electric Power Co. slid 4.5% after projecting a 125-billion-yen net loss for the year.
Daiwa Securities Group Inc. fell 4.9%, the most in more than seven months, as a slump in Japanese stock prices threatens to crimp trading commissions and curtail earnings growth at the nation’s second-biggest brokerage.
China’s Purchasing Managers Index was at 50.5, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said Feb. 1 in Beijing. That matched the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News and compared with December’s 51 reading. Numbers above 50 signal expansion.
The survey showed jobs and export orders shrinking, amplifying risks of a deeper slowdown as Communist Party leaders clamp down on the $6-trillion U.S. shadow-banking industry and interbank borrowing costs rise. A separate private manufacturing gauge released by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics on Jan. 30 pointed to the first contraction in six months.
In other markets;
Markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are closed today amid the Chinese New Year holidays.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gave up 36.27 points, or 1.2%, to 2,990.95
Korea’s Kospi Index was off 21.29 points, or 1.1%, to 1,919.96
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 25.08 points, or 0.5%, to 4,849.50
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 hesitated 2.09 points to 5,187.91
