The Asian markets concluded Wednesday’s trade in red after China’s leaders failed to provide a clear direction on policy over the coming decade. Stocks in China in particular reacted badly to Tuesday’s conclusion of the Third Plenum while the Nikkei’s strong upward streak in the last two sessions came to a halt. China’s leaders pledged to enact fiscal and land reforms, relax investment controls and let the market play a decisive role in allocating resources, following a four-day Communist Party policy meeting. The Third Plenum was important because it gave an opportunity for the new government to present a plan on how it would reshape the economy in order to achieve sustainable growth. The negative market reaction points toward dissatisfaction over the lack of details after the meeting.
Chinese banks’ non-performing loan ratio rose slightly to 0.97% at the end of September from 0.96% a quarter earlier, the China Bank Regulatory Commission reported. Non-performing loans totaled 563.6 billion yuan ($92.5 billion) at the end of third quarter, compared with CNY539.5 billion at the end of June. Japan’s Core Machinery Orders fell more-than-expected and stood at -2.1% from 5.4% in the preceding month. South Korea’s jobless rate stood at 3% in October, unchanged from the previous month even as government data showed an increase in job creation from a year ago. But unemployment among young people aged 15-29 was up marginally to 7.8% from 7.7% in September.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2087.94 | -38.83 | -1.83 |
Hang Seng | 22463.83 | -437.58 | -1.91 |
Jakarta Composite | 4301.89 | -78.75 | -1.80 |
KLSE Composite | 1782.49 | -12.31 | -0.69 |
Nikkei 225 | 14567.16 | -21.52 | -0.15 |
Straits Times | 3166.74 | -13.51 | -0.42 |
KOSPI Composite | 1963.56 | -31.92 | -1.60 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8104.26 | -91.00 | -1.11 |