China, Hong Kong lead Asian markets lower with financials under pressure

By Dow Jones Newswires

AFP/Getty Images

Pedestrians walk beside a bamboo scaffolding frame attached to a building in Hong Kong.

Asian stock markets largely fell on Friday, erasing the week’s gains in Taiwan and Malaysia, while Japan’s Nikkei was barely hanging on to its advance. But the biggest drop was in Hong Kong, where stocks were down more than 2% to extend the week’s losses.

Aside from lingering worries over U.S.-China trade relations, investors weighed up data that showed consumer inflation ticking higher. Financials in China and Hong Kong came under pressure after the country’s banking and insurance regulator announced credit support for the private sector.

As well, losses Friday could be a fresh sign that last week’s start-of-November bounce which gave a number of Asian indexes their best week in years hasn’t erased market concerns which have been persisting for months.

“Though the mid-term elections are over, worries that the U.S.-China trade war will drag on for the long term are lingering,” said Norihiro Fujito , chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Japan’s Nikkei /zigman2/quotes/210597971/delayed JP:NIK +0.33%   fell 1%, sliding from its 2½-week high Thursday. Nikon /zigman2/quotes/203281219/delayed JP:7731 -1.22%   tumbled 9%, while robot-maker Fanuc /zigman2/quotes/202054799/delayed JP:6954 +1.11%   slid around 5% and Nintendo /zigman2/quotes/208063194/delayed JP:7974 +3.02%   fell 2.6%.

After rising 6 of the past 7 trading days, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index /zigman2/quotes/210598030/delayed HK:HSI -0.01%   was down 2.4%. Tech remained weak, with smartphone-component makers AAC /zigman2/quotes/201441510/delayed HK:2018 -0.40%  down 1.6% after trimming earlier deeper losses, and Sunny Optical /zigman2/quotes/206687505/delayed HK:2382 +1.15%  down some 1.3%; they’ve respectively slumped 19% and 12% this week, and AAC is trading at fresh 2½-year lows. Meanwhile, internet heavyweight Tencent /zigman2/quotes/204605823/delayed HK:700 +0.18%   was off nearly 5% after overnight weakness in the U.S. for its ADR. Energy stocks were down similarly as U.S. oil prices entered bear-market territory Thursday.

China’s Shanghai Composite /zigman2/quotes/210598127/delayed CN:SHCOMP +0.08%   fell 1.3% — on pace for a fifth-straight drop — while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite /zigman2/quotes/210598015/delayed CN:399106 +0.01%   was off just 0.4%. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China /zigman2/quotes/201401473/delayed HK:1398 +0.36%  fell 2.7%, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd /zigman2/quotes/200705246/delayed HK:1288 +0.31%   fell over 3%. Those moves came after Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), reportedly also said banks need to make at least a third of new loans to private companies.

South Korea’s Kospi /zigman2/quotes/210598069/delayed KR:180721 +0.33%  slipped 0.3%, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan  , Singapore /zigman2/quotes/210597985/delayed SG:STI -0.47%  and Malaysia /zigman2/quotes/210598052/delayed MY:FBMKLCI -0.37%   also posted declines.

Australian stocks /zigman2/quotes/210598100/delayed AU:XJO +0.34%   dipped 0.1%, led by energy stocks, with Woodside Petroleum /zigman2/quotes/203437212/delayed AU:WPL +1.87%   and Oil Search /zigman2/quotes/204702973/delayed AU:OSH +2.41%   off over 1% each. New Zealand stocks /zigman2/quotes/211587880/delayed NZ:NZ50GR -0.41%   bucked the regional trend, rising slightly.

— Barbara Kollmeyer contributed to this report

/zigman2/quotes/210597971/delayed

Add to watchlist JP:NIK

NIKKEI 225 Index

JP : Nikkei

23,430.70

+76.30 +0.33%

Volume: 0.00

Dec. 9, 2019 3:15p

/zigman2/quotes/203281219/delayed

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Nikon Corp.

JP : Japan: Tokyo

¥ 1,454.00

-18.00 -1.22%

Volume: 2.08M

Dec. 9, 2019 3:00p

P/E Ratio

9.60

Dividend Yield

4.13%

Market Cap

¥573.49 billion

Rev. per Employee

¥34.15M

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Fanuc Corp.

JP : Japan: Tokyo

¥ 21,325.00

+235.00 +1.11%

Volume: 527,200

Dec. 9, 2019 3:00p

P/E Ratio

36.60

Dividend Yield

N/A

Market Cap

¥4047.26 billion

Rev. per Employee

¥95.87M

/zigman2/quotes/208063194/delayed

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Nintendo Co. Ltd.

JP : Japan: Tokyo

¥ 45,080.00

+1,320 +3.02%

Volume: 2.12M

Dec. 9, 2019 3:00p

P/E Ratio

28.20

Dividend Yield

1.69%

Market Cap

¥5212.88 billion

Rev. per Employee

¥217.41M

/zigman2/quotes/210598030/delayed

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Hang Seng Index

HK : Hong Kong Exchange

26,494.73

-3.64 -0.01%

Volume: 1.30M

Dec. 9, 2019 4:08p

/zigman2/quotes/201441510/delayed

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AAC Technologies Holdings Inc.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 61.70

-0.25 -0.40%

Volume: 10.87M

Dec. 9, 2019 4:08p

P/E Ratio

23.53

Dividend Yield

2.32%

Market Cap

HK$74.87 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$411,637

/zigman2/quotes/206687505/delayed

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Sunny Optical Technology Group Co. Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 140.30

+1.60 +1.15%

Volume: 5.70M

Dec. 9, 2019 4:08p

P/E Ratio

48.79

Dividend Yield

0.47%

Market Cap

HK$152.13 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$1.08M

/zigman2/quotes/204605823/delayed

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Tencent Holdings Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 336.20

+0.60 +0.18%

Volume: 9.84M

Dec. 9, 2019 4:08p

P/E Ratio

32.77

Dividend Yield

0.30%

Market Cap

HK$3180.14 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$8.27M

/zigman2/quotes/210598127/delayed

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Shanghai Composite Index

CN : China: Shanghai

2,914.48

+2.46 +0.08%

Volume: 16.08B

Dec. 9, 2019 3:01p

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Shenzhen Composite Index

CN : Shenhzen Stock Exchange

1,640.51

+0.18 +0.01%

Volume: 25.49B

Dec. 9, 2019 3:00p

/zigman2/quotes/201401473/delayed

Add to watchlist HK:1398

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 5.57

+0.02 +0.36%

Volume: 136.21M

Dec. 9, 2019 4:08p

P/E Ratio

5.62

Dividend Yield

5.11%

Market Cap

HK$1978.05 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$3.03M

/zigman2/quotes/200705246/delayed

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Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 3.20

+0.01 +0.31%

Volume: 44.92M

Dec. 9, 2019 4:08p

P/E Ratio

4.71

Dividend Yield

6.18%

Market Cap

HK$1116.45 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$2.16M

/zigman2/quotes/210598069/delayed

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KOSPI Composite Index

KR : Korea Exchange

2,088.65

+6.80 +0.33%

Volume: 393,126

Dec. 9, 2019 6:01p

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FTSE Straits Times Index

SG : Singapore: SGX

3,179.82

-14.89 -0.47%

Volume: 0.00

Dec. 9, 2019 5:20p

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FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI

MY : Malaysia

1,562.71

-5.73 -0.37%

Volume: 0.00

Dec. 9, 2019 5:05p

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S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index

AU : S&P ASX

6,730.00

+23.00 +0.34%

Volume: 243.00

Dec. 10, 2019 7:11a

/zigman2/quotes/203437212/delayed

Add to watchlist AU:WPL

Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

AU : Australia: Sydney

$ 34.35

+0.63 +1.87%

Volume: 0.00

Dec. 9, 2019 4:10p

P/E Ratio

18.57

Dividend Yield

5.25%

Market Cap

$31.72 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.92M

/zigman2/quotes/204702973/delayed

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Oil Search Ltd.

AU : Australia: Sydney

$ 7.23

+0.17 +2.41%

Volume: 400.00

Dec. 9, 2019 4:10p

P/E Ratio

18.71

Dividend Yield

2.69%

Market Cap

$10.76 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.46M

/zigman2/quotes/211587880/delayed

Add to watchlist NZ:NZ50GR

S&P/NZX 50 Gross Index

NZ : New Zealand: NZX

11,229.59

-46.61 -0.41%

Volume: 0.00

Dec. 9, 2019 5:01p