Asian markets came under renewed selling pressure Thursday, led by Shanghai and Hong Kong stocks.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled 119.79 points, or 1.1%, to 10,437.30
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jettisoned 415.92 points, or 1.7%, to 24,003.70
In Hong Kong, Jiangxi fell 2.5% and China Southern lost 6.1%, while Agile Property Holdings skidded 3.6%.
Also in Hong Kong, shares of Cathay Pacific Airways tumbled 3.7% after The Royal Bank of Scotland downgraded the stock to sell from buy.
Banking stocks were dragged down following Goldman Sachs’s disappointing results in the U.S.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group fell 1.6% and Mizuho Financial Group lost 1.7% in Tokyo.
Heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC shrank 2.1% in Hong Kong and Macquarie Group stumbled 3.8% in Sydney, while Shinhan Financial Group dropped 1.9% and Woori Finance Holdings shed 1.3% in Seoul.
In Tokyo, exporters also turned weak, with Canon Inc. dropping 2.3% and Toyota Motor Corp. falling 1.2%.
Australian resource stocks were knocked back, weighed by Wall Street’s weakness and concerns China’s tightening might threaten the nation’s demand for raw materials. Rio Tinto PLC skidded 2.3%.
BHP Billiton Ltd. fell 1.9% although its fourth-quarter production report met expectations.
Fortescue Metals Group skidded 7.8% to $6.63 Australian dollars ($6.60 U.S.) after a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires that Singapore state investment company Temasek sold its stake in the company for about A$877 million, or A$6.80 per share, a 5.4% discount to Fortescue’s closing price of A$7.19 Wednesday.
The euro declined against the U.S. dollar after tapping a two-month high of $1.3539 Wednesday.
The currency was fetching $1.3433 U.S. from $1.3474 U.S. late in New York on Wednesday, and 110.42 yen from ¥110.49. The dollar was buying ¥82.17 from ¥82.02.
CHINA
Chinese data underscored Beijing’s need to tighten monetary policy to rein in price pressures.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index gave back 100.14 points, or 3.3%, to 2,944.71
China’s gross domestic product rose 9.8% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, exceeding forecasts for 9.2% growth in a Dow Jones Newswires poll, as well as the third quarter’s 9.6% expansion.
The nation’s consumer-price index rose 4.6% in December, below an expected 4.7% rise, and slowing from November’s 5.1% rise.
But several economists highlighted the need for more policy tightening -- including the case for an imminent interest-rate increase -- to check consumer prices and cool economic growth.
Citigroup economists said that with inflationary expectations likely remaining high, interest rates were also likely to stay at elevated levels, adding that China could allow the yuan to appreciate at a faster rate to "fend off imported inflation."
While Chinese stocks fell across the board, metals, airline and real-estate stocks were hit especially hard.
Jiangxi Copper lost 5.9% and Poly Real Estate Group tumbled 6.3%, while China Southern Airlines Co. shed 7.5% in Shanghai.
In other markets
Korea’s Kospi Index shed 9.03 points, or 0.4%, to 2,106.66
Taiwan’s Taiex Index retreated 63.85 points, or 0.7%, to 9,022.17
Singapore’s Straits Times Index skidded 36.48 points, or 1.1%, to 3,205.48
New Zealand’s NZX 50 stepped backward 6.73 points, or 0.2%, to 3,339.39
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 50.90 points, or 1.1%, to 4,783.70
