Hong Kong was dragged down by a sharp fall in HSBC Holdings on Tuesday, after the bank’s earnings report disappointed the market, while the Australian dollar rose after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to an all time low.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 143.02 points, or 1%, to end Tuesday at 14,401.06
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plummeted 298.31 points, or 1.3%, to 21,923.36
HSBC, which announced its interim earnings after the market closed on Monday, slumped 5% — its largest daily decline since July 2012.
Although the bank reported a 23% increase in net profit for the first half of the year, its stock was hit by fears that its revenues were being affected by slowing growth in emerging markets.
The Australian dollar, which hit a three-year low against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, picked up after RBA decided to cut rates to a record low of 2.5%. Expectations for lower interest rates were high, with all 15 economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecasting a rate cut.
The currency was at $0.8991 late in Asia, compared to $0.8913 late Monday, and was lifted after the central bank omitted to say that there remains space for further cuts.
The central bank has now cut interest rates eight times since late 2011, as a weakening mining sector prompted policy makers to use monetary policy to support growth in other parts of the economy.
The U.S. dollar weakened against the yen early Tuesday, though it recovered as the day progressed. The greenback was at ¥98.37 late in Asia, compared with ¥98.30 late Monday in New York.
Shares in Sony Corp. ended 4.6% lower after the company rejected the proposal made by hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb to sell part of its entertainment business through a public offering.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp. rose 3.1% in Tokyo after the Nikkei reported that its group operating profit for the first quarter is believed to have risen more than 30% on year to about ¥15 billion, driven by an improvement in its copper segment and a weaker yen.
Also in Tokyo, Toshiba Corp. outperformed the broader market, up 1.4% after a Nikkei report said that the company plans to build a NAND flash memory factory in a joint venture with SanDisk, with the total investment estimated to be ¥400 billion.
In Taiwan, phone maker HTC Corp. dropped 2.9% after it posted a 37% on-year drop in revenue in July. The technology firm’s stock has been under pressure in recent months and has lost 50% of its value so far this year.
In other markets;
The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 gained 15.31 points, or 0.7%, to 2,293.66
Taiwan’s Taiex dumped 99.72 points, or 1.2%, to 8,038.91
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index subtracted 16.90 points, or 0.5%, to 3,224.89
Korea’s Kospi Index erased 9.60 points, or 0.5%, to 1,906.62
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index ducked back 13.99 points, or 0.3%, to 4,575.50
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slid 5.62 points, or 0.1%, to 5,105.63
