Asia stock benchmarks fell Thursday, as a surprise rate cut in South Korea, lack of central bank policy action from Japan, and weak jobs data from Australia kept investors on edge a day before the release of a likely downbeat report on Chinese growth.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slid 130.99 points, or 1.5%, to close at 8,720.01
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong tumbled 394.76 points, or 2%, to 19,025.11
One expert said disappointment over any imminent easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve was draining confidence across the region
Adding to existing growth worries, official data from Australia showed the country’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage points to 5.2% in June.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan left ultra-low interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting Thursday. The BOJ reaffirmed its commitment to steadily increasing the size of its asset purchase program, but didn’t announce any immediate increase in the overall size of the program.
Banks sold off sharply in Hong Kong. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. lost 2.4%, and China Merchants Bank Co. retreated 2.3%.
Nomura Holdings Inc. slumped 2.5%, Aozora Bank Ltd. retreated 1.6%, and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. eased 1.8%.
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. lost 2.1% despite a Nikkei report that operating profit for the April-June quarter was expected to jump following strong U.S and Japanese sales.
Heavy falls for shipping-related firms worked to drag the South Korean index lower, Samsung Engineering Co. lost 3.1% and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. pulled back 1.8%.
Shares of Hyundai Motor Co. sank 3.1%, while Kia Motors Corp. slipped 1.2%, after a wage dispute saw workers vote in favour of their first strike action in years.
Resource shares retreated across Asia following a mostly weak overnight session for commodity markets.
Hong Kong-listed Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. sank 3.5%, while global miners BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Ltd. dropped 1.6% and 2.5%, respectively, in Sydney.
CHINA
Economists surveyed by FactSet expect China to have grown 7.5% in the second-quarter from the year-ago period, markedly slower than the 8.1% expansion recorded in the first quarter.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index added 23.61 points, or 1%, to 2,449.18
In other markets
Korea’s Kospi Index docked 41 points, or 2.2%, to 1,785.39
Singapore's Straits Times Index faded 17.27 points, or 0.6%, to 2,972.04
Taiwan’s Taiex Index backtracked 126.98 points, or 1.8%, to 7,130.93
New Zealand’s NZX index climbed 22.56 points, or 0.7%, to 3,501.40
Australia’s ASX Index lost 28.57 points, or 0.7%, to 4,067.97
