The Asian equity benchmarks ended in red on Wednesday, with Japanese stocks diving for a second day as the yen traded at a four-week high against the dollar, buoyed by falling global risk sentiment on a continued slide in commodity prices as copper plunged. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a record $812 billion budget for the fiscal year starting on April 1, while cutting new borrowing for a third straight year in a bid to balance growth and fiscal reform. The 96.34 trillion yen ($812.45 billion) general-account budget draft, the third since Abe swept to power in late 2012, marks a rise from this fiscal year’s initial 95.88 trillion yen, reflecting higher welfare spending and military outlays. Japan’s M2 Money Stock remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.6%. China housing inventories is expected to pile up in 2015 as supply grows. Nine out of 12 listed Chinese developers will launch more housing projects in 2015 as they strive to meet sales targets and boost market share - at the risk of adding to already-bloated inventories. South Korean Unemployment Rate rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.5%, from 3.4% in the preceding month.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,222.44 | -12.86 | -0.40 |
Hang Seng | 24,112.60 | -103.37 | -0.43 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,159.67 | -54.69 | -1.05 |
KLSE Composite | 1,742.01 | -6.89 | -0.39 |
Nikkei 225 | 16,795.96 | -291.75 | -1.71 |
Straits Times | 3,326.16 | -14.91 | -0.45 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,913.66 | -3.48 | -0.18 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,180.23 | -51.57 | -0.56 |