Nikkei:9,648.77 (–67.88) Hang Seng:23,276.27 (+202.51) Shanghai Comp:2,871.87 (+27.79)
MOST ASIAN stocks fell yesterday amid disappointing earnings in Japan as the nation grapples with the consequences of its worst earthquake on record. In Tokyo about five stocks fell for each four that advanced.
Japan Steel Works slid 4.9 per cent after forecasting a drop in profit. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Japan’s second biggest bank by market value, fell 3.8 per cent after the country’s chief cabinet secretary said lenders may have to waive some loans to Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of a nuclear plant crippled by the earthquake and resulting tsunami. The power company sank 6.9 per cent to 1,120 yen.
In Hong Kong, Foxconn International Holdings, the world’s largest contract maker of mobile phones, sank 3.4 per cent to HK$4.24 after Hang Seng Indexes Co, the city’s stock market index compiler, said it decided to drop the stock from its main index.
In Seoul, Hana Financial tumbled 15 per cent to 37,850 won after its chairman, Kim Seung Yu, expressed concern that his bid for Korea Exchange Bank may fail as the nation’s financial regulator further delays approval. – (Bloomberg)
