By Daniel Inman
Asian markets edged down Thursday, with Australia and Singapore
among the worst performers, ahead of Friday's U.S. labor
report.
Regional stocks fell after the U.S. posted another piece of
stronger-than-expected employment data. A report from Automatic
Data Processing and Moody's Analytics showed that 215,000
private-sector jobs were added last month, compared with an
expected 178,000.
The ADP report is a foretaste of monthly nonfarm payrolls data
Friday -- an important indicator over whether the U.S. economy is
strong enough for the Federal Reserve to start to reduce its
stimulus. In recent months, trading has turned cautious ahead of
the labor report, as the central bank has said that employment will
be a key factor in its policy decisions.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6%, South Korea's Kospi
fell 0.5%, and Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.9%.
In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.4% and the Shanghai
Composite lost 0.1%. After the U.S. labor report, China will start
to release its monthly economic data for November, with trade
figures out over the weekend and inflation numbers on Monday.
The Nikkei lost 0.3%, stabilizing after a sharp 2.2% decline
Wednesday, brought about by a reversal in the yen's recent
weakening trend that has seen the dollar trade around Yen103 in
recent sessions.
The dollar lost 0.2% against the yen in the previous session and
edged down a touch to Yen102.30 Thursday.
It was a busy day in terms of corporate news, with several major
companies moving sharply lower in response to negative
developments.
Qantas Airways (QUBSF) plunged 11.6% in Sydney after it
announced a first-half underlying pretax loss of between 250
million and 300 million Australian dollars ($226 million-$271
million). In addition, the firm announced 1,000 job cuts, a pay
freeze and structural review of capital expenditure and assets.
Standard Chartered PLC sank 4.3% in Hong Kong after the lender
warned that its operating profit would fall this year for the first
time in a decade -- due to problems in its South Korea business and
a weak fourth quarter.
Chinese telecoms operators bumped higher after they were granted
licenses allowing them to run fourth-generation mobile technology
that is already being used in developed countries. China Mobile
(CHL) is up 0.6%, but China Unicom (CHU) turned lower by 0.5% in
Hong Kong.
A number of Japanese companies were reacting to corporate news.
Firms that make mini-vehicles fell after a Nikkei report that the
government will raise ownership taxes for these cars by October
2015. Suzuki Motor Corp. lost 1.2% and Daihatsu Motor Co. fell
1.7%.
Watchmaker Seiko Holdings Corp. gained 0.6% after the Nikkei
reported that the firm's operating profit is likely to increase
150% on year to more than Yen14 billion for the fiscal year ending
March 2014.
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