Asian markets conclude Thursday’s trade in red

31 Oct 2013 Evaluate

The Asian markets concluded Thursday’s trade in red after the Federal Reserve left monetary policy unchanged, while China was weighed down by declines in banking stocks. Lenders in China were in focus after several of the country’s largest banks reported their third-quarter earnings, with profit growth continuing to decline as the sector faced a maturing economy and interest-rate pressure. The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged by a unanimous vote, as was widely expected, while also keeping its inflation forecast steady. Bank of Japan raised its growth projection for the fiscal year beginning April 2014 from 1.3% to 1.5%. However, it held to its previous outlook for 1.9% core consumer inflation in fiscal 2015, excluding the effects of a new consumption-tax hike.

China’s international balance of payments showed a surplus in the third quarter of this year, marking the fourth straight quarter of surpluses. The surplus under the current account totaled $39.7 billion in the three months, the data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed. In Hong Kong, the total retail sales value in September, provisionally estimated at $35.8 billion, rose 5.1% year-on-year, the Census & Statistics Department reported. After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the total retail sales volume grew 4.9% in the month. The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in August increased 8.1% over the same period a year earlier, while the volume of total retail sales grew 7.2%. Separately, government expenditure for the April-September period amounted to $201.6 billion, with $141.5 billion in revenue, resulting in a $60.1 billion deficit. Fiscal reserves stood at $673.8 billion as at September 30.

Asian Indices

Last Trade

Change in Points

Change in %

Shanghai Composite

2141.61

-18.85

-0.87

Hang Seng

23206.37

-97.65

-0.42

Jakarta Composite

4510.63

-64.25

-1.40

KLSE Composite

1806.85

-10.53

-0.58

Nikkei 225

14327.94

-174.41

-1.20

Straits Times

3210.67

-19.77

-0.61

KOSPI Composite

2030.09

-29.49

-1.43

Taiwan Weighted

8450.06

-15.00

-0.18

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