Asian markets declined Monday as a jump in Spanish borrowing costs kept European fiscal problems in focus, with many regional financial and commodity stocks falling hard, while losses in Tokyo were made worse by a stronger yen.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index collapsed 167.35 points, or 1.7%, to 9,470.64
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gave back 90.40 points, or 0.4%, to 20,610.50
Many regional banks fell sharply after a sell-off in global financials Friday.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. declined 3.5% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. lost 3% in Tokyo, KB Financial Group Inc. lost 2.2% in Seoul, while HSBC Holdings PLC dropped 1.4% and Bank of China Ltd. shed 1.2% in Hong Kong.
Japanese exporters were pressured by the yen’s rise, with Canon Inc. losing 2.4%, Honda Motor Co. losing 2% and Fanuc Corp. lost 2.7%.
Resource-linked stocks declined as a firmer dollar further dragged on commodity futures that were weighed down in New York trading Friday, after China reported weaker-than-expected economic growth figures.
Rio Tinto Ltd. fell 1.2% and Newcrest Mining Ltd. lost 2.7% in Sydney, while in Tokyo, Inpex Corp. fell 1.3% and trading firm Marubeni Corp. skidded 4.8%.
Several shipping firms were also hit by worries about the global economic outlook.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. tumbled 4.1% and Nippon Yusen K.K. ll 2.5% in Tokyo, STX Pan Ocean Co. dropped 0.6% in Seoul, and China Cosco Holdings Co. fell 2.8% in Hong Kong and 0.8% in Shanghai
CHINA
Concerns about Europe outweighed an announcement by the People’s Bank of China over the weekend to double the yuan’s trading range against the dollar on a given day to 1% from 0.5%, pushing currencies such as the yen and the dollar higher, and hurting commodity prices.
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 Index slid 6.41 points, or 0.3%, to 2,574.04
Shares of Jiangxi Copper Co. dropped 1.3% and Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. lost 0.6% in Shanghai; in Hong Kong, the stocks dropped 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively
Chinese airline stocks skidded after China Eastern Airlines Corp. and China Southern Airlines Co. each issued profit warnings last week.
In Hong Kong trading, China Eastern tumbled 4.9%, China Southern fell 2.8% and Air China Ltd. lost 2.6%. In Shanghai, they dropped 0.5%, 1.7% and 0.3%, respectively.
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index slipped 16.28 points, or 0.8%, to 1,992.63
The Taiex index in Taiwan fell 58.41 points, or 0.8%, to 7,729.86
Singapore’s Straits Times Index tacked on 4.70 points, or 0.1%, to 2,992.12
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index subtracted 13.67 points, or 0.4%, to 3,473.50
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index demurred 20.97 points, or 0.5%, to 4,302.33
