Asian markets ended lower Friday on a setback to expectations for progress in resolving the U.S. debt crisis, with Japanese stocks also hit by a set of weak earnings reports and profit outlooks.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average shed 68.32 points, or 0.7%, to end the day, week and month at 9,901.35
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 130.49 points, or 0.6%, to 22,420.20
Losses deepened in regional markets after Thursday’s voting on a Republican bill to lift the U.S. debt ceiling was cancelled, with only days remaining before the Aug. 2 deadline, when the government is expected to run out of money to pay all of its bills
The day’s weak performance added to the weekly losses for most regional benchmarks. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was among the biggest decliners, losing 3.9% from last Friday’s closing level. The Nikkei Average gave up 3%.
Continued dollar weakness, which traded below the 78-yen level through the Asian session, weighed on many Japanese exporters, with Toyota Motor Corp. losing 0.9%, and Komatsu Ltd. shed 1.8%.
Nintendo Co. plunged 13% in Tokyo after reporting a quarterly net loss of 25.5 billion yen ($327 million U.S.), virtually identical to a year earlier, and slashed its fiscal-year profit outlook and the price of its 3DS handheld games console.
The tumble came after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the rating to neutral from buy, while J.P. Morgan cut the stock to underweight from overweight.
Sony Corp. dropped 3.3% after reporting late Thursday that it swung to an April-June net loss of ¥15.5 billion, compared with a year-ago profit of ¥25.7 billion. The company also cut its fiscal-year forecast.
Still, some Japanese financials gained after reporting stronger earnings, with Shinsei Bank Ltd jumping 10.1%, and Aozora Bank Ltd. rising 6.2%.
Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. added 0.8% in a downbeat Seoul market after the world’s top memory-chip maker posted an 18% drop in second-quarter net profit, broadly in line with analysts’ estimates compiled by Dow Jones Newswires.
In Hong Kong, financial-sector stocks were again broadly pressured by worries over the U.S. debt crisis. Heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC dropped 1%, and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. gave up 0.5%.
Insurance major AIA Group Ltd. was a notable exception to the broad trend, rising 3.4% after its net profit for the half-year ended May 31 jumped a better-than-expected 24% from the year-ago period.
In other markets
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index docked 8.92 points, or 0.3%, to 2,972.08
Korea’s Kospi Index let go of 22.64 points, or 1.1%, to 2,133.21
Taiwan’s Taiex Index jettisoned 123.02 points, or 1.4%, to 8,644.18
Singapore’s Straits Times Index skidded 0.59 points to 3,189.26
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index doffed 1.16 points to 3,395.63
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index settled 39.20 points, or 0.9%, to 4,424.60
