Asian stock markets ended the week down after a quiet session ahead of the holiday break, with Chinese car makers dropping after Beijing municipal authorities rolled out new regulations to cool consumer appetite for vehicle ownership.
The Nikkei 225 index went into the Christmas break with a loss of 67.29 points or 0.7% to 10,279.20
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell back 69.17 points, or 0.3%, to 22, 833.80
In Hong Kong, car makers declined after the Beijing municipal government unveiled aggressive measures to curtail the number of cars sold in the city.
In Japan, stocks were lower as the yen strengthened against the dollar and the euro. The euro was especially weak after Fitch cut Portugal’s long-term foreign-debt rating by one notch to A-plus on Thursday.
Companies with a large portion of sales in the euro zone, such as Olympus Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. underperformed the benchmark index, each slipping 1.4% and 2.4% respectively.
Shares of marine shippers fell after Goldman Sachs downgraded Mitsui O.S.K. Lines to sell from buy and slashed its price target, citing expectations for a deterioration in supply and demand for dry-bulk carriers.
Mitsui O.S.K. shares closed down 2.5%.
In Sydney, resources and financials were slightly lower, with BHP Billiton falling 0.9% and National Australia Bank down 0.4%.
Riversdale Mining Ltd. rose 0.8% after an Indian consortium appointed Citibank to advise it on a possible counterbid to Rio Tinto PLC’s submitted bid.
In Korea, SK Energy gained 3.2% after news Thursday that it agreed to sell its oil assets in Brazil to Maersk Oil, a subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk, for $2.4 billion U.S.
In foreign-exchange markets, the U.S. dollar was at 82.88 yen, from ¥82.98 in late New York trade Thursday while the euro was at ¥108.88, from ¥108.78.
CHINA
Beijing will limit the issuance of new car and micro-van license plates in the city to 240,000 in 2011, about one-third of the 750,000 vehicles expected to be sold this year.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index gave back 25.65 points, or 0.8%, to 3,162.96
Dongfeng Motor plunged 7.9%, Brilliance China fell 7.5% and Geely Auto ended 6% lower.
Also in China, concerns about a possible increase in interest rates in the near future weighed on banks.
Construction Bank fell 1.2%, following a 0.7% decline Thursday, and Bank of Communications ended 0.9% lower, extending its 1.0% fall the previous day.
In other markets
Taiwan’s Taiex Index swooned 37.77 points, or 0.4%, to 8,861.10
Singapore’s Straits Times Index bucked the trend and added 6.02 points, or 0.2%, to 3,143.80
Korea’s Kospi Index slid 7.93 points, or 0.4%, to 2,029.60
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index moved lower 4.55 points, or 0.1%, to 3,329.14
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 21.70 points, or 0.5%, to 4,777.30
