By Daniel Inman
Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday after the yen strengthened
following the Bank of Japan's policy meeting, while a decline in
Samsung Electronics weighed on the South Korean market.
The dollar continued its march against a number of Asian
currencies, after Standard & Poor's upgraded its ratings
outlook on the U.S. to stable from negative on Monday, citing the
country's strong economic performance.
The greenback hit a new 2013 high against both Malaysia's
ringgit, last at 3.1460 ringgit, and the Philippine peso, which was
recently trading at 43.02 pesos to the dollar.
The yen however pushed back against the dollar after the Bank of
Japan's policy meeting disappointed the market, leaving policy
unchanged. In particular, the central bank did not extend its
low-price fund-supplying operation.
The dollar (USDJPY) fell sharply after the Bank of Japan
announced its decision -- last at Yen98.31 compared with Yen98.74
late Monday in New York.
Japanese stocks were flat at lunchtime, but shot lower as the
afternoon session got underway, reacting negatively to the stronger
yen. The Nikkei ended down 1.5% at 13,317.62.
Softbank Corp. (9984.TO) fell 0.4% in Tokyo after the company
agreed to raise its offer for Sprint Nextel Corp. (US-S) to $21.6
billion from $20.1 billion previously.
Also in Tokyo, Sony (SNE) added 2.2% after announcing at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles that it will introduce
its upcoming PlayStation 4 at $399, significantly undercutting
Microsoft's steeper-than-expected $499 price tag for its Xbox
One.
South Korea's Kospi Composite declined 0.6% to 1920.68, with the
index weighed by its single largest constituent, Samsung
Electronics Co. (SSNLF), which lost 2.5% on concerns that its
Galaxy S4 smartphone may not be selling as well as expected.
There was also heavy selling in Southeast Asia, with the
Philippines and Indonesia hit particularly hard. These markets have
been under pressure in recent weeks, as concerns about high
valuations and outflows by foreign investors have led to
substantial declines.
The Philippines PSE Composite was down 4.6% at 6556.65, and
Indonesia's JCI fell 3.1% to 4630.051.
Australia resumed trading after closing on Monday for a public
holiday, getting its first chance to react to the events that
influenced the previous session -- namely, last week's
forecast-beating U.S. nonfarm payrolls data and disappointing
Chinese economic data that came out over the weekend.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.4% higher at 4757.1, as a weak
Australian dollar lifted offshore-income earners, while attractive
dividend yields supported banks.
CSL Ltd., News Corp. (NWS), QBE Insurance and Amcor -- all of
which have a high level of U.S. dollar revenue -- rose 0.5%-2.4%.
Australia's four biggest banks -- Commonwealth Bank of Australia
ANZ , Westpac and National Australia Bank -- gained 0.2%-0.8% as
their fully-franked dividend yields rose to the 5.5%-7.0% range,
after share price falls in the order of 13%-21% over the past few
weeks.
The Australian dollar continued its recent selloff into European
trade, hitting its lowest level since September 2010 at US$0.9338,
as home loans growth greatly undershot expectations and as Goldman
Sachs warned that the resource-rich nation was at risk of
recession.
The Aussie was recently at US$0.9349.
Markets in mainland China remained closed for a three-day public
holiday, though Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong remained
weighed by the poor economic data out over the weekend.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was down 1.7% at 9959.74,
and the Hang Seng Index was off 1.2% at 21354.66.
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