Asian markets closed out the last trading day of August on a downbeat note, with Japanese stocks falling sharply after weak industrial data, while Chinese stocks also drifted lower, with investors cautious ahead of a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The Nikkei 225 average tumbled 143.87 points, or 1.6%, to 8,839.91
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 70.34 points, or 0.4%, to end the week at 19,482.57
While the Shanghai and Hong Kong indexes showed monthly losses, of 2.7% and 1.6%, respectively, the Nikkei Average has gained 1.7% this month, while the Kospi is up 1.2% and the S&P/ASX 200 has gained 1.1%.
The Tokyo market came under notable selling pressure after data showed an unexpectedly negative reading on industrial production for July, with the numbers coming on the heels of Thursday’s downbeat retail-sales statistics.
Japanese manufacturing-related firms suffered on Friday after the data, as auto-parts maker Denso Corp. fell 4.2% while dump truck and excavator producer Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. lost 2.6% and Komatsu Ltd. lost 2.2% in Tokyo.
Japanese steel mill owners also lost ground, after a Nikkei report that an influx of inexpensive Chinese steel has forced some Japanese producers to take asset-impairment charges for their mills.
The report said Nippon Steel Corp., down 5.6%, and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd., down 5.1% — which are due to merge in October — plan to book a combined 240-billion-yen ($3.1 billion U.S.) extraordinary charge for April-September and post losses wider than their previous outlooks.
With no sign that production at Chinese steel mills is slowing in the face of declining Chinese growth, iron-ore prices have fallen sharply lately.
Citic Pacific Ltd. dropped 7.1% in Hong Kong on Friday. The firm is developing the Sino Iron Project in Western Australia and it expects the mine to the largest magnetite iron-ore operation in Australia.
Some Australian-listed miners managed to take back some of the week’s steep losses, with Rio Tinto Ltd.’s 1.3% advance taking its weekly loss to 4.9%.
Other Japanese firms declining in Tokyo on Friday included Sharp Corp. which tumbled 12.8% after Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., down 0.8% in Taipei, reportedly said talks to renegotiate its investment in the Japanese firm had yet to reach a conclusion.
Nikon Corp. fell 3.1%, Suzuki Motor Corp. traded lower by 3.5% and Honda Motor Co. dropped 2.4%.
Shipper China Merchants Holdings International Co. fell 2.4% in Hong Kong after announcing that it has bought a 50% stake in Togo container-terminal operator Thesar Maritime Ltd. for 150 million euros ($188 million U.S.).
However, property firms were solid performers in Hong Kong after a sharp drop in the previous session, with Henderson Land Development Co. up 2.1% and Sino Land Co. higher by 0.2%.
Citigroup analysts said Hong Kong’s new land and housing policies, announced late Thursday, were “relatively mild” and added “we believe H.K. property stocks may recover.”
The measures, meant to cool rapidly rising real-estate prices in the territory, included plans for 65,000 new residential apartments in the next three to four years.
In South Korea, index heavyweight Samsung Electronics Inc. traded up 1.4% in a choppy session.
A Japanese court Friday ruled that Samsung didn’t infringe on patents belonging to Apple Inc. , according to reports from the region. The Tokyo District Court also reportedly ordered Apple to pay all costs involved in the lawsuit.
The ruling followed last week’s $1.05 billion judgment in Apple’s favor in a similar patent suit in the U.S.
CHINA
There is no sign from Chinese policy makers of a repeat of the large-scale stimulus measures seen in 2008 that fueled a massive construction boom in China and demand for construction machinery.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Composite Index inched back 6.50 points, or 0.3%, to 2,204.87.
In another sign of weakness for the Asian construction sector, China’s Sany Heavy Industry Co. fell 4% in Shanghai after reporting a 13% drop in first-half net profit to 5.2 billion yuan ($819.2 million), according to Reuters.
In other markets;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index forged ahead 13.64 points, or 0.5%, to 3,025.46
Korea’s Kospi Index docked 1.26 points to 1,905.12
Taiwan’s Taiex Index gained 25.62 points, or 0.4%, to 7,397.06
New Zealand’s NXZ Index picked up 37.12 points, or 1%, to 3,666.68
Australia’s ASX Index inched up 0.44 points to 4,316.11
