Asian markets ended mostly lower Wednesday, reversing two days of gains as investors preferred to wait for more news from meetings between European finance ministers in the days ahead.
The Nikkei was down 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite fell 3.3% and the Hang Seng was down 1.5%. The Sensex swung into the black and was up 0.9% while in Sydney the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries also pared losses and ended 0.4% higher.
Euro-zone finance ministers agreed after a second round of meetings today to boost the region’s bailout fund, but didn’t say by how much. Separately, ECB governing council member Christian Noyer said in a conference in Singapore today that the crisis had significantly worsened in the past few weeks and that market stress had intensified.
Wall Street ended higher yesterday after upbeat domestic data.
Stocks on the Move
Metal sector firms fell across most Asian markets and bank shares were also depressed.
Copper prices fell on the LME, hurt by the European uncertainty and its potential impact on industrial demand for the metal.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded its ratings on 15 global banks yesterday as part of a change in how it will view financial institutions henceforth.
Japan’s major banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho were all about 1% lower each.
In metals, Sumitomo Metal Mining fell 1.7%.
Yahoo Japan Corp. rose 4.5% on hopes of strong online sales this holiday season, similar to a pick up in online sales in the U.S. on Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving.
Index heavyweight Sony fell 1.4% and Elpida Memory lost 5.6% after the dollar fell below 78 yen.
Olympus pared losses and ended up 2.2% after a company spokesperson denied reports the company could miss the December 14 deadline to file its updated financial results.
Shares of HSBC fell 2.1% in Hong Kong after it figured among the 15 banks downgraded by S&P. Index heavyweight ICBC erased 2.3% while Bank of China was down 1.6%. AgBank fell 2.5%.
Li & Fung dropped 0.4%.
In Mumbai, the benchmark 30-share Sensex rose above the 16000 level with Airtel the the top gainer, up 3.2%. ONGC gained 3.1% while Sun Pharma was up 2.8%. NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Jindal Steel, DLF, TCS, RIL and Wipro were all up in a range between 1.7% and 2.4%.
GDP data showed India’s economy grew at 6.9% in the July-September quarter, in line with economists’ forecasts, but slower than the 7.7% expansion recorded in the prior quarter. Manufacturing output rose 2.7% on year while mining output fell 2.9%.
Aussie shares closed higher even as trading volumes remained thin.
Economic data showed record business investment in the third quarter, signaling a healthy overall economic growth. New capital expenditure growth was up 12.3% in the September quarter, beating expectations for a 7% increase.
Index leader BHP Billiton ended down 0.2% after it said it is reviewing the sale of its Canadian diamond assets. Fellow miner Rio Tinto sank 0.9%.
Industrial equipment manufacturer Bradken gained 3.2% after the company completed a $200 million private bond placement in the US.
The big four banks were in the black as CBA gained marginally, up 0.1%. WBC, NAB and ANZ were up between 0.6% and 2%.
