Most Asian markets fell Monday on worries about the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook and rising U.S Treasury yields. Mainland Chinese and Japanese shares ended higher after a choppy trading session on buying after a string of recent losses.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 108.02 points, or 0.8%, to 13,758.13
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 54.11 points, or 0.2%, to 22,463.70
Hong Kong property developers suffered from the weak U.S. cues, with Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. gave up 0.9% and Sino Land Co. lost 1.3%.
Suzuki Motor Corp. dropped 1%, and JFE Holdings Inc. retreated 0.7%.
However, shares of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. rose 2.2% after the Nikkei newspaper reported the company will team up with Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC to develop a new aircraft engine that is more fuel-efficient.
The market in Sydney suffered a drag from shares of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which dropped 2.9%, and telecommunications major Telstra Corp., which declined 3.7%, as both stocks traded without rights to a dividend.
BlueScope Steel Ltd. sank 14.1% after it said it doesn’t expect a better outcome for the first half of 2014 than it had in the second-half of 2013. BlueScope’s annual loss narrowed to 84.1 million Australian dollars ($77.3 million U.S.).
CHINA
Some mainland Chinese developers also weakened despite broad market gains and data showing a further improvement in Chinese home prices last month. Prices of new homes rose in 62 of 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities in July from their levels in June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Sunday.
The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 regained 27.29 points, or 1.2%, to 2,331.43
Gemdale Corp. lost 3.1% in Shanghai, while China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. shed 2.2% in Hong Kong trading.
The choppy trade in Shanghai followed extreme volatility witnessed Friday after a large unintended trade was executed at a mid-sized trading firm, Everbright Securities Co.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement Sunday the trading glitch was caused by design defects and the transaction system at Everbright, rather than by human error.
Shares of Everbright remained under a trading halt Monday, following news the mid-sized brokerage firm lost 194 million yuan ($31.7 million U.S.)
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index dipped 2.47 points, or 0.1%, to 1,917.64
Taiwan’s Taiex Index subtracted 24.79 points, or 0.3%, to 7,900.21
The Singapore Straits Times Index was down 24.20 points, or 0.8%, to 3,173.33
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index docked 10.65 points, or 0.2%, to 4,503.22
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 eased 1.33 points to 5,112.53.
