Asian stocks ended on a mixed note Monday, as investors weighed evidence the global slowdown is deepening, including data showing China's manufacturing activity contracted by a record amount in the past month, against signs stocks may already have weathered the worst of the bad news.
The benchmark Nikkei N225 index closed down 115.1 points or 1.4% at 8,397.2 while the benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 220.6 points or 1.6% to close at 14,108.8.
On the economic front, the latest provisional report of Monthly Labor Survey from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare showed that total labor cash earnings in Japan declined for the first time in ten months. Total cash earnings were down 0.1% year-over-year in October, compared to a revised increase of 0.2% in September.
Meanwhile, the Japan Automobile Dealers' Association said that domestic auto sales plunged 27.3% year-over-year in November after falling 13.1% in October. Total sales amounted to 215,783 vehicles. Auto sales dropped for the fourth straight month.
Among tech exporters, consumer electronics giant Sony dropped 0.6%, Sharp declined 0.2%, Canon gave away 0.4%, Komatsu fell 1.8%, Advantest shed 3.1%, industrial robot maker Fanuc lost 2.0%, and Kyocera Corp slid 1.7%.
Automakers fell on the back of a plunge in domestic auto sales in November. Toyota Motor fell 1.8%. Honda Motor plunged 2.9% after a top executive of the company said that it would have a tough time meeting its lowered annual profit forecasts due to an increasingly severe sales environment.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group lost 2.3%, but Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 0.6% and Mizuho Financial Group advanced 0.4%.
Among commodity-related stocks, Mitsubishi Corp edged up 0.1%, Mitsui & Co rose 0.7%, but oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings sank 4.4% and Nippon Oil fell 1.4%.
NTT DoCoMo gained 3.7% after the Nikkei business daily reported that Carlyle-controlled firm Willcom Inc would launch low-priced mobile data services using DoCoMo's network in early 2009.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market closed higher, led by property developers and appliances stocks, as bargain hunting picked up following news that China Merchants Property Development successfully sold 450 million new shares and after reports indicated that the central government would expand a rebate scheme nationwide to encourage rural residents to buy domestic appliances. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 23.5 points or 1.3% at 1,894.62 after losing 2.4% on Friday.
On the economic front, a business group reported that manufacturing activity contracted sharply in November as China's economic downturn worsened. The purchasing managers index fell to 38.8 in November, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. It was the lowest level since the survey started in 2005.
In the property sector, China Vanke rose 2.0% and China Merchants Property Development jumped 5.5%. Among appliances makers, TCL and Guangdong Midea Electric Appliances rose by the daily limit of 10%.
Banks finished weaker, with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China losing 0.5% and China Construction Bank giving away 1.2%.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed up 1.3% at 4,518.
Singapore's STI closed down 2.4% at 1,690.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index closed down 1.5% at 1,223.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 17.7 points at 848.
India's Sensex closed down 2.8% at 8,839.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.6% down at 3,681.20.
South Korean Kospi gave up earlier gains, tumbling 1.6% to 1,058.70.
with files from other wire services
