A week of solid gains ended on a sour note for Asian markets Friday as stocks got broadly hammered as hopes for a U.S. government bailout of the Big Three automakers collapsed.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed down 484.7 points, or 5.6%, at 8,235.9 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 5.55 to 14,758.
In economic news, a final report from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed that Japan's industrial output dropped by a seasonally adjusted 3.1% in October. Compared to the previous year, production declined 7.1% in October. The ministry has confirmed the initial estimate released on November 28.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office said that Japan's general consumer confidence indicator decreased to 28.7 in November from 29.8 in October. However, it was better than the expected reading of 28. The index measuring households' consumer confidence fell to 28.4 from 29.4 in October. Additionally, the single-person household confidence indicator stood at 29.5, down from 30.8 in the preceding month.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gave away 4.0%, Mizuho Financial Group lost 2.4%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group eased 1.2%. The Nikkei reported that Mitsubishi UFJ has emerged as the leading contender to buy NikkoCiti Trust & Banking Corp. from Citigroup Inc. Mitsui Life Insurance said that it would sell 22 billion-23 billion yen of new preferred shares to top shareholder Sumitomo Mitsui through a private placement.
Automakers sank, with Nissan shedding 11.5%, Toyota plunging 10.1%, Honda slumping 12.5% and Mazda losing 10.9%. Among export-oriented stocks, Canon lost 5.8%, Komatsu declined 5.6%, Nikon tumbled 9.7% and Sony dropped 6.0%. In the tech space, Kyocera dipped 3.2%, Advantest plummeted 7.1% and Fanuc slumped 7.6%.
Elpida Memory plunged 11.4% after it said it would redeem all or part of a recently issued $540 million convertible bond, forcing the cash-strapped PC memory maker to look for alternative financing.
In the oil sector, Nippon Mining Holding rose 3.3% and Inpex Holdings advanced 2.8%, while trading house Mitsubishi Corp fell 3.9% and Mitsui & Co dropped 5.5%%.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market closed sharply lower in late sell-off, as investors dumped shares amid mounting pessimism over the government's ability to stave off an economic slump. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 77.5 points or 3.8% to close at 1,954.2. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index lost 4.0% to 584.7.
On Friday, the minister of industry said Beijing would spend 15 billion yuan to help smaller companies improve technology, part of a string of government moves that includes a 4 trillion yuan economic stimulus package. However, a slew of gloomy economic data and news that a bailout for the American auto industry was thwarted by a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate dented investor sentiment.
Stocks fell across the board, with index heavyweight PetroChina, falling 2.4% and refiner Sinopec losing 4.3%. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank sank 6.6% and Ping An Insurance lost 6.2%.
Airline stocks gained, boosted by progress on government cash injections aimed at rescuing major state-owned carriers. China Southern Airlines jumped by the daily limit of 10% and China Eastern Airlines also climbed 10%.
CITIC Securities plunged 4.0%, Haitong Securities tumbled 6.4% and Sinolink Securities fell 2.9%.
In the property sector, China Vanke lost 5.1%, Gemdale sank 6.7%, COFCO dropped 6.4%, and Poly Real Estate Group declined 6.5%.
Elsewhere:
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index or KOSPI closed down 50.6 points or 4.4% at 1,103.8.
Taiwan's Taiex shed 3.7% to 4,481.
Singapore's STI closed down 3.0% at 1,740.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index slid 4.1% to 1,262.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 8.4 points at 852.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 skidded 2.4% to 3,510.40.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index dipped 1.8% to 2,676.95.
with files from other wire services
