HONG KONG, Jan 20, 2009 (AFP) - Markets in Asia tumbled Tuesday as investors followed European stocks in a downward spiral on renewed fears for the banking sector, while Toyota announced its first sales fall in a decade.
Tokyo dived 2.31 percent, Hong Kong almost 2.9 percent and Sydney 3.1 percent, while Seoul shed more than two percent, Taipei lost 2.84 percent and Singapore 1.35 percent.
Dealers' concerns the global financial crisis has a lot further to go were borne out on Monday when Royal Bank of Scotland announced it had lost up to 40 billion dollars last year, the biggest loss in British corporate history.
The news hit European stocks and sent the British pound plunging to a six-year low against the dollar.
The falls came despite a second multi-billion pound bank rescue package by London.
Toyota Tuesday released figures showing a four percent fall in global sales in 2008 due to slumping demand -- its first decline since 1998, according to a company spokeswoman.
It later announced it had appointed Akio Toyoda -- grandson of the company's founder -- to be the new president as part of a reshuffle of top management.
The falls showed that previous optimism over the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president later Tuesday had been virtually wiped out by the reality of the state of the world economy.
Meanwhile, the European Commission forecast the EU economy will shrink nearly two percent in 2009 as a recession sends unemployment and government deficits soaring.
However, despite the grim regional news, Shanghai reversed earlier losses and posted a 0.37 percent gain on continuing hopes for further government stimulus measures to boost the country's ailing industries.
TOKYO: Down 2.31 percent. The Nikkei-225 index dropped 191.06 points to 8,065.79. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares lost 12.70 points, or 1.55 percent, to 805.03.
The Nikkei index shed more than three percent in the morning but narrowed the losses in late trading on speculation that pension funds and other domestic investors were buying major automakers and other shares, dealers said.
Toyota shares rose 2.31 percent to end at 3,100 yen despite its weak sales data and a report that it was considering shedding a further 3,000 temporary workers to weather the industry slump.
Among other carmakers, Honda climbed 1.91 percent to 2,130 yen and Nissan edged up 0.92 percent to 327 yen.
Mizuho Financial Group plunged 6.17 percent to 228 yen while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group lost 2.90 percent to 502 yen.
HONG KONG: Down 2.9 percent. The Hang Seng Index closed 380.22 points lower at 12,959.77. Turnover was 39.58 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.07 billion US).
HSBC lost 7.7 percent to 57.50 dollars, adding to its six-day, 16.6 percent slump on persistent capital-raising concerns, despite a statement from the bank Monday denying speculation it is seeking support from the British government.
Losses on the main index were narrowed by China Mobile, which bucked the downtrend after it reported a strong increase in new users.
Foxconn International tumbled 7.3 percent to 2.79 dollars after it said its 2008 net profit would fall significantly due to the global economic downturn.
Citic Bank fell 2.1 percent to 2.75 dollars despite saying its 2008 net profit may rise 60 percent.
SYDNEY: Down 3.1 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 lost 112.7 points to end at 3,476.6 -- its lowest close since late November -- while the broader All Ordinaries dumped 106.0 points to end the day at 3,425.0.
Preliminary turnover was some 917 million shares worth 2.85 billion dollars (1.89 billion US).
Miners were all lower on lingering concerns about demand. Rio Tinto fell 6.3 percent to 37.99 dollars and BHP Billiton lost 4.7 percent to 28.95 dollars.
Santos was off 5.0 percent at 14.00 and Woodside Petroleum slipped 2.5 percent to 33.43.
The four major banks were all in the red. National Australia Bank was down 5.4 percent at 18.39, ANZ lost 5.1 percent to 13.70, Commonwealth Bank shares fell 3.9 percent to 26.35 and Westpac slumped 3.7 percent to 15.50 dollars.
SHANGHAI: Up 0.37 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, closed up 7.44 points to 1,994.11 on turnover of 55.6 billion yuan (8.1 billion dollars).
Investors were hunting for bargains amid expectations Beijing could announce an interest rate cut and other measures to support the economy before the release of major economic data, traders said.
Oil majors led the gainers with Sinopec closing up 1.4 percent to 7.91 yuan, while China Oilfield Services added 0.7 percent to 13.37 yuan.
Financial firms also climbed as institutional investors bought banking stocks amid expectations the sector will benefit from a gradual economic recovery and share purchases by China's sovereign wealth fund, analysts said.
Haitong Securities rose 9.1 percent to 11.56 yuan and Bank of Communications jumped 2.8 percent to 5.56 yuan.
TAIPEI: Down 2.84 percent. The weighted index fell 124.15 points to 4,242.61 on turnover of 45.72 billion Taiwan dollars (1.39 billion US), its lowest close since ending at 4,225.07 on December 5.
Financials were down 3.88 percent, semiconductors 3.34 percent lower and electronics off 2.64 percent.
Nanya Technology, the island's second-largest memory-chip producer, fell 4.1 percent to 5.62 Taiwan dollars.
First Financial dropped 5.0 percent to 14.15 and Cathay Financial lost 4.0 percent to 32.80.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co dropped 3.4 percent to 39.60, after the company said it would cut an undisclosed number of employees after an annual performance review.
United Microelectronics Corp fell 3.14 percent to 7.1.
SEOUL: Down 2.1 percent. The KOSPI ended down 23.84 points at 1,126.81. Volume was 314.95 million shares worth 3.73 trillion won (2.72 billion dollars).
Following losses by European peers, Shinhan Financial Group fell 4.7 percent to 28,200 won and KB Financial Group declined 5.3 percent to 33,700.
Samsung Electronics lost 2.3 percent to 464,000 won while LG Electronics slid 4.0 percent to 77,700.
KT Corp and KT Freetel outperformed the broader market following a local report that KT's board would decide on a merger between the two later Tuesday.
KT Freetel rose 2.1 percent to 29,050 won while KT ended 0.1 percent lower at 39,700.
SINGAPORE: Down 1.35 percent. The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 23.62 points to 1,723.37 on volume of 847 million shares worth 719 million Singapore dollars (478 million US).
"Though there was some initial optimism ahead of the swearing in of the US president and Singapore's budget announcement on Thursday, the broader picture is that global economic fundamentals continue to deteriorate and recovery would be some time in coming," said NetResearch Asia, an equity research firm.
United Overseas Bank closed 30 cents lower at 11.60 and DBS eased three cents to 8.66.
CapitaLand dropped 11 cents to 2.69 and Keppel Land slid three cents to 1.51. Singapore Telecommunications gained three cents to 2.57 while Singapore Airlines added 16 cents to 11.36.
KUALA LUMPUR: Down 1.1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 9.91 points to close at 880.37.
Turnover was at 375.82 million shares valued at 439.12 million ringgit (122 million dollars).
Tenaga Nasional eased 1.7 percent to 5.95 ringgit, Bumiputra Commerce was down 2.4 percent at 6.20 and TMI lost 3.3 percent to 3.54.
On the upside, Bursa gained 0.9 percent to 5.35 ringgit, DK Leather rose 4.8 percent to 54.5 sen and CBIP added 1.7 percent to 1.75.
BANGKOK: Down 0.58 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index lost 2.52 points to close at 433.19 points while the bluechip SET-50 index fell 1.77 points to 300.83.
Turnover was 2.27 billion shares worth 6.49 billion baht (185.73 million dollars).
Top energy firm PTT Plc shed 1.00 baht to close at 157.00 baht while its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production lost 2.00 to 101.00.
Banpu fell 2.00 to 222.00.
Bangkok Bank added 0.50 to 68.00 and Kasikorn Bank edged up 0.50 to 44.50, while Thai Airways was down 0.15 to close at 6.40.
JAKARTA: Down 0.5 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index fell 6.54 points to 1,344.15 in thin volume.
Coal miner Bumi Resources slipped 1.9 percent to 490 rupiah and rival Indotambang Raya dropped 5.0 percent to 9,450.
Telkom gained 0.8 percent to 6,450 rupiah.
MANILA: Down 1.3 percent. The composite index fell 25.06 points to 1,897.93, while the all-shares index fell 0.2 percent to 1,227.73 points.
Volume turnover amounted to 667.7 million shares worth 1.01 billion pesos (21.4 million dollars).
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. fell 3.2 percent to 2,095 pesos.
The Manila Electric Co. was unchanged at 59.50 pesos.
San Miguel Corp. saw its A share remain unchanged at 40 pesos while its B shares remained at 42 pesos.
WELLINGTON: Down 1.40 percent. The NZX-50 index fell 38.49 points to close at 2,709.48 on turnover worth 89.5 million dollars (47.8 million US).
Contact Energy fell 69 cents to 6.66 dollars after announcing it expected underlying earnings for the current year to be cut by 20 to 23 percent.
Telecom rose eight cents to 2.42 dollars.
Fletcher Building fell five cents to 5.80 dollars and Fisher & Paykel Appliances dropped two cents to 1.30.
MUMBAI: Down 2.45 percent. The 30-share Sensex index fell 229.02 points to 9,100.55.
burs-dan/mtp
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