Asian shares were dragged down Thursday as a tumble in energy markets Wednesday spooked investors, with selling in Sydney stocks made worse by disappointing jobs data that also weighed on the Australian dollar.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average surrendered 147.61 points, or 1.5%, to 9,716.65
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dumped 218.04 points, or 0.9%, to 23,073.80.
The broad losses followed a tumble in energy prices Wednesday. A plunge in gasoline futures triggered a five-minute trading halt on Nymex for the first time in two years and pressured June crude-oil futures down $5.67 U.S. a barrel, or 5.5%.
The oil contract was recently down $1.31 at $96.90 U.S. on Globex, surrendering early gains after failing to reclaim the $100-a-barrel U.S. psychological level. Spot gold, meanwhile, was at $1,488.20 U.S. a troy ounce, down $12.70 from its New York settlement Wednesday.
Worries about Greece’s debt crisis added to the selling pressure. Athens was brought to a halt Wednesday by protests against Greece’s austerity measures, increasing concern that Greece could default on its debt next year.
Resource-sector stocks tracked the broad losses suffered in commodity prices and were among those hit hard. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. gave up 2.5% and BHP Billiton Ltd. dropped 2.6% in Sydney, with Inpex Corp. losing 3.6% in Tokyo.
Cnooc Ltd.’s 1.4% drop in Hong Kong during the session erased the stock’s gains in 2011 to date. Aluminum Corp. of China and gold miner Zijin Mining Group Co. lost 2% and 2.2%, respectively; in Shanghai, the stocks fell 2.2% and 2.5%, respectively.
The drop in Sydney was aided by a further jolt from the April jobs report, which showed the country shed 22,100 jobs in April against consensus for a 17,000 increase during the month.
The worse-than-expected result cost more than one U.S. cent for the Australian dollar in foreign-exchange trade at one point. The Aussie, which dropped as low as $1.0573 U.S. from the session’s $1.0705 U.S. high, had recovered a little more recently and was fetching $1.0602 U.S.
Outside the resources sector, Westpac Banking Corp. dropped 1% and James Hardie Industries SE slid 2.8%.
In Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp. rose 3.1% even after the company reported a 77% drop in earnings for the January-to-March quarter on news that it expects earthquake-hit production to recover sooner than it indicated earlier.
Yamaha Motor Co. also jumped 4.3% after posting improved earnings.
But those gains failed to offset losses in several other stocks amid heightened risk aversion and weak results from some other companies.
Shares of Olympus Corp tumbled 5.6% and Terumo Corp. dropped 3.4% after their earnings reports.
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. rose 0.6% despite posting a small drop in fourth-quarter earnings. Southeast Asia’s biggest telecommunications firm by revenue announced a surprise special dividend of 10 Singapore cents (8.1 U.S. cents) a share.
In foreign-exchange markets, the euro also failed to hold on to the gains it recorded against the U.S. dollar and the yen earlier in the day, as its rebound from overnight losses evaporated amid a wave of risk aversion across asset classes and worries about Greece’s debt situation.
The currency was recently buying $1.4181 U.S. against $1.4192 U.S. in late New York trade Wednesday, and was at 114.84 yen versus ¥115.00. The dollar was at ¥80.96 compared with ¥81.05.
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Composite Index slipped 43.48 points, or 1.4%, to 3,101.60
Taiwan’s Taiex Index recovered 13.28 points, or 0.2%, to 9,033.68
Korea’s Kospi index docked 43.98 points, or 2%, to 2,122.65
Singapore’s Straits Times index lost 43.48 points, or 1.5%, to 3,130.45
New Zealand’s NZX 50 fell 18.56 points, or 0.5%, to 3,540.31
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 moved lower by 84.10 points, or 1.8%, to 4,696.10
