By Daniel Inman
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian markets fell on Thursday, with
Australia and Japan among the worst performers, ahead of Friday's
U.S. labor report.
The Nikkei lost 1.5% to 15177.49, adding to 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 to Yen101.88 late in Asia compared with Yen102.35 late
Wednesday in New York.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dived 1.5% to 5198.00, with banks
falling sharply as traders talked about a large order to sell
lenders from an institutional investor. Commonwealth Bank of
Australia lost 1.8% and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group
lost 1.7%.
South Korea's Kospi shed 0.1% to 1984.77, the Philippines PSE
Composite dropped 1.2% to 6030.95 and Singapore's Straits Times
Index fell 1.15% to 3,124.38.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.1% to 23712.57 and the
Shanghai Composite lost 0.2% to 2247.06. 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 Monday.
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 11.2% 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 a structural review of capital expenditure and
assets.
Standard Chartered sank 4.7% 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.
China Mobile (CHL) rose 0.5% in Hong Kong, bucking the broader
downward trend in the market, after The Wall Street Journal
reported that the firm signed a deal with Apple to offer iPhones on
its network.
Firms that make mini-vehicles in Japan fell after a Nikkei
report that the government will raise ownership taxes for these
cars by October 2015. Suzuki Motor Corp. lost 1.9% and Daihatsu
Motor Co. fell 2.1%.
Regional stocks also 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.
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