Erratic swings in Chinese trading pushed Asian markets lower Tuesday, as investors struggled to interpret Beijing’s latest cues about its role in the market.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 deleted 76.98 points, or 0.4%, to close Tuesday at 18,374
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 138.4 points, or 0.7%, to 21,188.72
Japanese blue-chip stocks traded mostly lower, with the likes of Toyota and Honda closing down more than 1.5% each. The dollar-yen pair, which fell below the 120-benchmark against the U.S. dollar in the previous session, was at 119.41 on Tuesday afternoon, with the Japanese currency likely boosted by safe-haven flows.
Samsung Electronics shares erased losses to end up 0.3% at the end of the session. In the previous trading session, the share was down over 4% after the company's chief executive, Kwon Oh-hyun, warned employees of challenging conditions ahead, due to low global growth and greater competition. Samsung is expected to issue earnings guidance for the fourth quarter ended December on Friday.
In Singapore, CapitaLand shares traded down 0.3%.
Low-cost carrier Tiger Airways saw its shares up 11% after reports said Singapore Airlines was revising its initial offer price for the airline from an initial S$0.41 a share to S$0.45 a share. Singapore Airlines shares traded up 0.3%
In Australia, energy and health-care sectors were the big losers, down over 2% each, while financials lost 1.4%.
Resource plays remained under pressure, with shares of Rio Tinto andBHP Billiton closing down over 1% each. Other miners also ended the session lower. Energy stocks saw losses up to 3.9% as a result of lower oil prices, while gold miners finished mostly up, with Newcrest tacking on a 1.9% gain.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar traded modestly higher at 0.7197 against the U.S. dollar.
CHINA
The CSI 300 Index regained 9.71 points, or 0.3%, to 3,478.78, after yesterday’s plummet of 7%.
One cause for the volatility in China’s markets is investors’ uncertainty about how the stock regulator will handle a ban on selling by large stakeholders, expected to expire on Friday.
Analysts estimate the ban, one of the many bailout measures introduced during the summer stock crash, could free shareholders up to sell around one trillion yuan of shares ($152.96 billion U.S.), a prospect that triggered a steep selloff Monday and ricocheted across global markets.
The offshore Chinese yuan , which trades freely, last traded at 6.6384 to one U.S. dollar compared with 6.6283 late Monday, its weakest in roughly five years. The onshore yuan, which can trade up or down 2% from the authorities’ fixing, traded at 6.5199, compared with 6.5338 to the dollar.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index slid 1.74 points, or 0.1%, to 2,834.23
The Kospi recovered 11.77 points, or 0.6%, to 1,930.53
Taiwan’s Taiex index removed 39.15 points, or 0.5%, to 8,075.11
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 returned from a long weekend to erase 46.16 points, or 0.7%, to 6,278.10
The ASX 200 fell 86.04 points, or 1.6%, to 5,184.43
