Sentiment remained bearish in the Asian region as most of the counters snapped the last day of the week in the negative terrain as concerns over the eurozone debt crisis overshadowed another batch of upbeat US jobs figures. In Spain the new economy minister warned that banks may face up to 50 billion euros ($65 billion) in bad loan provisions. Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei declined over a percentage point as investors grew cautious ahead of a long weekend against the backdrop of Europe debt crisis and a still-high yen. Hang Seng and Seoul Composite too lost over a percent in the trade. However, Chinese Shanghai advanced over half a percent as energy producer PetroChina jumped after Beijing raised a threshold for a so-called windfall tax, effectively reducing oil producers’ taxes. Banks and resource stocks also climbed after hefty recent losses, although many property developers declined on Chinese bourses.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,163.39 | 14.94 | 0.70 |
Hang Seng | 18,593.06 | -220.35 | -1.17 |
Jakarta Composite | 3,869.42 | -36.85 | -0.94 |
Nikkei 225 | 8,390.35 | -98.36 | -1.16 |
Straits Times | 2,715.59 | 2.57 | 0.09 |
Seoul Composite | 1,843.14 | -20.60 | -1.11 |
Taiwan Weighted | 7,120.51 | -10.35 | -0.15 |