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 +0.67%   fell 1%, sliding from its 2½-week high Thursday. Nikon /zigman2/quotes/203281219/delayed JP:7731 +5.17%   tumbled 9%, while robot-maker Fanuc /zigman2/quotes/202054799/delayed JP:6954 -0.41%   slid around 5% and Nintendo /zigman2/quotes/208063194/delayed JP:7974 -1.94%   fell 2.6%.

After rising 6 of the past 7 trading days, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index /zigman2/quotes/210598030/delayed HK:HSI +2.35%   was down 2.4%. Tech remained weak, with smartphone-component makers AAC /zigman2/quotes/201441510/delayed HK:2018 +2.09%  down 1.6% after trimming earlier deeper losses, and Sunny Optical /zigman2/quotes/206687505/delayed HK:2382 +3.05%  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 +9.62%   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 +0.48%   fell 1.3% — on pace for a fifth-straight drop — while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite /zigman2/quotes/210598015/delayed CN:399106 +0.27%   was off just 0.4%. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China /zigman2/quotes/201401473/delayed HK:1398 +1.19%  fell 2.7%, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd /zigman2/quotes/200705246/delayed HK:1288 +1.02%   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 +2.18%  slipped 0.3%, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan  , Singapore /zigman2/quotes/210597985/delayed SG:STI -0.32%  and Malaysia /zigman2/quotes/210598052/delayed MY:FBMKLCI -0.57%   also posted declines.

Australian stocks /zigman2/quotes/210598100/delayed AU:XJO +0.36%   dipped 0.1%, led by energy stocks, with Woodside Petroleum /zigman2/quotes/203437212/delayed AU:WPL -0.87%   and Oil Search /zigman2/quotes/204702973/delayed AU:OSH -1.15%   off over 1% each. New Zealand stocks /zigman2/quotes/211587880/delayed NZ:NZ50GR +0.49%   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

28,822.29

+190.84 +0.67%

Volume: 0.00

Jan. 25, 2021 3:15p

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Nikon Corp.

JP : Japan: Tokyo

¥ 855.00

+42.00 +5.17%

Volume: 7.68M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:00p

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Dividend Yield

2.34%

Market Cap

¥298.49 billion

Rev. per Employee

¥29.27M

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Fanuc Corp.

JP : Japan: Tokyo

¥ 26,960.00

-110.00 -0.41%

Volume: 667,200

Jan. 25, 2021 3:00p

P/E Ratio

84.38

Dividend Yield

0.71%

Market Cap

¥5192.61 billion

Rev. per Employee

¥62.26M

/zigman2/quotes/208063194/delayed

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Nintendo Co. Ltd.

JP : Japan: Tokyo

¥ 62,680.00

-1,240 -1.94%

Volume: 1.20M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:00p

P/E Ratio

18.22

Dividend Yield

2.01%

Market Cap

¥7614.37 billion

Rev. per Employee

¥211.05M

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Hang Seng Index

HK : Hong Kong Exchange

30,138.97

+691.12 +2.35%

Volume: 2.48M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:22p

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AAC Technologies Holdings Inc.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 46.30

+0.95 +2.09%

Volume: 8.68M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:22p

P/E Ratio

28.39

Dividend Yield

0.22%

Market Cap

HK$54.81 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$514,884

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Sunny Optical Technology Group Co. Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 222.80

+6.60 +3.05%

Volume: 8.43M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:22p

P/E Ratio

51.10

Dividend Yield

0.36%

Market Cap

HK$236.54 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$2.13M

/zigman2/quotes/204605823/delayed

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Tencent Holdings Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 757.50

+66.50 +9.62%

Volume: 39.56M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:22p

P/E Ratio

53.97

Dividend Yield

0.16%

Market Cap

HK$6573.11 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$6.80M

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Shanghai Composite Index

CN : China: Shanghai

3,624.24

+17.49 +0.48%

Volume: 32.73B

Jan. 25, 2021 3:01p

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Shenzhen Composite Index

CN : Shenhzen Stock Exchange

2,462.85

+6.61 +0.27%

Volume: 40.35B

Jan. 25, 2021 3:00p

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Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 5.10

+0.06 +1.19%

Volume: 151.59M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:22p

P/E Ratio

5.66

Dividend Yield

5.64%

Market Cap

HK$2063.71 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$3.26M

/zigman2/quotes/200705246/delayed

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Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.

HK : Hong Kong

HK$ 2.96

+0.03 +1.02%

Volume: 136.74M

Jan. 25, 2021 3:22p

P/E Ratio

4.74

Dividend Yield

6.73%

Market Cap

HK$1289.77 billion

Rev. per Employee

HK$2.48M

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KOSPI Composite Index

KR : Korea Exchange

3,208.99

+68.36 +2.18%

Volume: 1.02M

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FTSE Straits Times Index

SG : Singapore: SGX

2,981.81

-9.72 -0.32%

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FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI

MY : Malaysia

1,587.57

-9.17 -0.57%

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S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index

AU : S&P ASX

6,824.70

+24.30 +0.36%

Volume: 381,082

Jan. 25, 2021 4:51p

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Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

AU : Australia: Sydney

$ 26.33

-0.23 -0.87%

Volume: 1.70M

Jan. 25, 2021 4:11p

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

3.98%

Market Cap

$25.50 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.83M

/zigman2/quotes/204702973/delayed

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Oil Search Ltd.

AU : Australia: Sydney

$ 4.30

-0.05 -1.15%

Volume: 3.26M

Jan. 25, 2021 4:11p

P/E Ratio

N/A

Dividend Yield

3.29%

Market Cap

$9.04 billion

Rev. per Employee

$1.42M

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S&P/NZX 50 Gross Index

NZ : New Zealand: NZX

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