Asian shares mostly fell Thursday, as banks dragged on the Hong Kong market, although the Australian financial sector helped Sydney hold its ground near multi-month highs.
Markets in Japan had the day off.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong deducted 59.55 points, or 0.3%, to close the day at 21,249.53
Losses for Australian miners after an overnight drop in commodity prices were offset by a 1% rise for banking giant Westpac Banking Corp.
Westpac’s adjusted first-half earnings broadly met analyst expectations, and one executive described the result as “sound” but said recovery in the global economy remains fragile.
That fragility was reflected in labour data out Wednesday from the U.S. and Europe. Euro-zone unemployment reached a record high, while ADP data out from the U.S. showed a slow down in hiring, leading to small losses for European and U.S. stocks.
However, recent Asian data were somewhat better, with this week’s Chinese manufacturing surveys showing improvement.
Hong Kong stocks had rallied on Wednesday after the Chinese data, but they pared back those gains Thursday, falling sharply after a major share placement by Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte.
Both Bank of China Ltd and China Construction Bank Corp. fell 3.1% after Temasek sold close to $2.5 billion U.S. of stock in the two lenders at a discount.
Losses spread through Hong Kong-listed mainland Chinese bank shares. Temasek also reportedly holds shares in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., which traded down 1.3%, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. lost 2.5%.
Also in Hong Kong, Wynn Macau Ltd. slipped 1.2%, failing to get a boost after Macau approved its plan to build a new resort on the former Portuguese colony’s Cotai Strip.
Other Macau casino shares were broadly lower, with Galaxy Entertainment Corp. surrendering 1.4%, and Sands China Ltd. shedding 0.7%
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Composite Index inched up 8.03 points, or 0.3%, to 2,691.52
Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped 5.20 points, or 0.2%, to 3,000.94
Korea’s Kospi Index shed 3.96 points, or 0.2%, to 1,995.11
Taiwan’s Taiex Index slid 17.28 points, or 0.2%, to 7,659.53
New Zealand’s NXZ Index lost 38.27 points, or 1.1%, to 3,576.70
Australia’s ASX Index fell 6.95 points, or 0.2%, to 4,428.96
