Asia stocks came under strong selling pressure Thursday, with banks putting in a particularly weak performance across the region as the first quarter of the year drew to a close for some markets.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dumped 157.83 points, or 1.3%, to finish day, week, month and quarter at 12,335.96
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index slumped 165.19 points, or 0.7%, to 22,299.63
Thursday’s losses came as the trading week wound down for many markets, with Australian, Hong Kong, Indian, and Singaporean bourses to be closed Friday, along with most of those in Europe and the U.S.
It’s been a mixed quarter so far for Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei rising 18.7% and the Australian benchmark gaining 6.8%, while the Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng Index lost between 1% and 2%.
Hong Kong-listed shares of the mainland Chinese banks also stumbled, with China Merchants Bank dropping 4.2%, China Citic Bank shedding 4.1% and Bank of Communications Co. declining 4%.
Non-Chinese banks suffered in Hong Kong too, with index heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC dropping 1% as the market awaited the slated reopening of the Cyprus banks.
Banks were also leading losses over in Japan. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. dropped 2.4%, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. lost 1% and Shinsei Bank Ltd. retreated 2.3%.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. tumbled 3.9% after reporting two malfunction incidents with batteries made in a joint venture with GS Yuasa Corp., which slumped 11.1%.
South Korean car makers were also seeing some weakness, with Kia Motors Corp. down 1.4%.
Aluminum Corp. of China Co. dropped 4.5% in Hong Kong after reporting a worse-than-expected loss for 2012 of 8.23 billion yuan ($1.3 billion U.S.).
The result was hurt by higher raw-material costs and lower prices for aluminum, and the loss was almost double the 4.78 billion yuan analysts had been expecting.
CHINA
Chinese banks suffered big losses after the banking regulator issued new rules on wealth-management products. The regulations demand that banks clearly link such products with specific assets.
The Shanghai CSI 300 Composite 300 index fell 84.23 points, or 3.3%, to 2,499.30
Banks trading in Shanghai took some heavy losses, with China Merchants Bank Co. sliding 5%, and China Citic Bank Corp. plunging 9.1%.
In other markets;
In Korea, the Kospi Index inched up 0.08 points to 1,993.52
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index slid 27.24 points, or 0.4%, to 7,866.88
The Singapore Straits Times Index lost 4.93 points, or 0.2%, to 3,308.10
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 index improved 10.70 points, or 0.2%, to 4,422.75
In Australia, the S&P/ASX shed 28.49 points, or 0.6%, to 4,966.50
