Asian equities stretched their losing run Friday after a massive wave of selling hit Wall Street overnight, though Hong Kong and Taiwanese markets pared early losses. European sovereign debt troubles remained in focus.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 331.10 points – or 3.1% -- to 10,364.59
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dipped 213.12 points, or 1.1%, to 19,920.29
Banking stocks such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered tumbled 4.3% and 4.8%, respectively, in Hong Kong, offsetting gains in shares of some Chinese lenders and property developers.
Shares of China Construction Bank Corp. rose 1%, China Overseas Land & Investment climbed 2.7% and China Resources Land surged 3.6% in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong market was also supported by a 5.1% surge in shares of Swire Pacific after its property unit, Swire Properties, Thursday shelved its $3.09-billion U.S. Hong Kong initial public offering. Traders said the move was viewed positively, given recent weakness in property shares in the city state.
Taiwanese stocks also recouped some of their steep losses as airlines and some technology shares rebounded, though weaker financials offset their gains. China Airlines finished up 0.8% and AU Optronics climbed 0.9%, but China Financial Holding declined 0.9% and Chinatrust Financial Holding fell 1.5%.
Financials lost ground elsewhere in the region after the plunge on Wall Street, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group dropping 2.5% in Tokyo, National Australia Bank shedding 5% in Sydney, and DBS Group sliding 2.3% in Singapore.
Japanese shares briefly pared losses in early afternoon trade before slipping back, as exporters were hurt by the yen's steep appreciation overnight. The currency gave up some of those gains in Asian trading.
Shares of Sony dropped 3.2% and Panasonic lost 2.5%, while Honda Motor retreated 2.6%. Fast Retailing tumbled 6% after saying late Thursday that April same-store sales at its Uniqlo casual clothing chain fell 12.4% year-on-year.
Nintendo plunged 9.3% after the video game giant said Thursday its net profit dropped to 228.64 billion yen ($2.5 billion U.S.) in the fiscal year ended March 31, from 279.09 billion yen a year earlier.
Base metal stocks led the losses in mainland Chinese bourses following a steep decline in metal prices recently. Aluminum Corp. of China fell 3.1% and Yunnan Copper fell 5.8%.
But gold miners gained across the region after risk-shy investors bid up the price of the yellow metal overnight in New York. Shares of Zhaojin Mining Industry rose 3.8% in Hong Kong, Zhongjin Gold Co. rose 4.7% in Shanghai and Newcrest Mining added 1.5% in Sydney.
Spot gold was at $1,202.90 U.S. per troy ounce, down $5.90 U.S. from the New York close.
In foreign exchange markets, the euro recovered after plumbing 14-month lows of $1.2510 against the U.S. dollar Thursday, although analysts expect more pain ahead for the single currency. The euro was fetching $1.2729 U.S., compared with $1.2599 U.S. late in New York, and 117.26 yen from 113.26 yen, though well below 120.12 yen on Wednesday. The dollar was at 92.14 yen, from 89.92 yen.
Elsewhere;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 dropped 60.07 points, or 2.1%, to 2,836.79
Singapore’s Straits Times Index moved lower 18.54 points, or 0.7%, to 2,821.11
Korea’s Kospi index dumped 37.21 points, or 2.2%, to close at 1,647.50
Taiwan’s Taiex index fell 12.38 points, or 0.2%, to 7,567.10
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index declined 59.08 points, or 1.8%, to 3,158.85
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid 92.50 points, or 2%, to 4,480.70
