Hong Kong stocks went on a wild roller-coaster ride Thursday before ending little changed, with the session highlighting investor worries about a raging global financial crisis as well as anguish over beaten-down valuations.
The Hang Seng index closed down 4.73 points at 17,632.46 while the benchmark Nikkei index shed 260.49 points to end at 11,489.30, its lowest close since June 2005.
Economic reports released today showed that the indices of tertiary industry activity in Japan increased 1.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted score of 110.6 from previous month, while nationwide department store sales continued to decline for the sixth month in a row in August as fears of economic slowdown and higher prices reduced household spending. Japan Department Stores Association said that nationwide department store sales decreased 3.1% on year in August, quicker than a 2.5% fall seen in July. Meanwhile, machine tool orders fell 13.9% on year in August.
The Bank of Japan cut its assessment on business investment in its monthly economic report on Thursday, citing the impact of weaker corporate profits. The central bank reiterated that economic growth was sluggish due to higher energy costs and weakening export growth, keeping its overall assessment unchanged.
Financials witnessed intense selling pressure. Mizuho Financial Group fell 4.3%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shed 3.4%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group plunged 6.6%.
Sony slumped 8.7% to hit a five-year low following a rating cut by Goldman Sachs to Neutral from Buy on a three-rank scale. Among other exporters, heavy machinery maker Komatsu dropped 5.7%, Nikon tumbled 8.8%, Toyota Motor fell 3.1%, Canon slipped 0.7% and Honda Motor plummeted 4.5%. Hitachi edged up 0.3%. The company will reportedly buy plasma TV panels from Panasonic maker Matsushita in a bid to cut costs.
In the tech sector, Advantest declined 0.9%, Fanuc lost 1.2% and Matsushita Electrical Industrial gave away 3.2%. Kyocera slid 1.8% after the company said that it would invest 55 billion yen to more than double its capacity to make solar power systems by March 2012.
Among oil-related stocks, Inpex Holdings declined 2.6%, Nippon Oil lost 1.4% and Nippon Mining Holdings dropped 1.1%. Trading house Mitsubishi Corp slipped 0.2%, Mitsui and Co. plunged 2.3% and Sumitomo Corp slumped 3.4%.
The Chinese stock market closed lower, extending its losses for the third consecutive trading session. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 33.21 points or 1.72% at 1,895.84, recovering substantially from the day's low of 1,802.33. The index has fallen nearly 64% so far this year.
Airlines remained weak on a rebound in crude oil prices, while gold producers advanced after the price of the precious metal recorded the biggest one-day jump in nine years on Wednesday.
Banks rose following a technical rebound. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China closed up 0.6% after tumbling 7.9% in the morning. Bank of China advanced 2.7%. The bank reported a $75.62 million holding in Lehman securities. Industrial Bank jumped 4.1% though the bank said that it has investments or transactions associated with Lehman Brothers to the tune of $33.6 million.
Elsewhere in the financial sector, Ping An Insurance fell 8.6% and China Life Insurance dropped 4.5%. Haitong Securities lost 4.5% and CITIC Securities declined 5.1%.
Air China gave away 4.7%, China Eastern Airlines closed down 5.7%, and China Southern Airlines plummeted 6.2% after light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $6.01 to settle at $97.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed down 2.7% at 5,641.
Singapore's STI closed flat at 2,419.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 1.1% at 991.
India's Senex closed up 0.4% at 13,315.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index closed up 1.0% at 1,787.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 2.4% to 4,607.30.
South Korea's Kospi slid 2.3% to 1,392.42.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index fell 3.4%.
with files from other wire services
