Asia Declines, Sony Tumbles

Ivaylo
25 Jun, 2007
New York City

Asian markets fell led by BHP Billiton and Sony Corp, as well as by concerns over U.S. home sales this week, expected to show a decline, which would mean lesser interest in export oriented companies. Expectations of further tightening measures in China weighed on the Shanghai Composite Index, and in HK, China related stocks were hit the worst. In South Korea, banks led the decline.

[R]8:30AM Asian markets decline Monday, with Japan down on export-oriented stocks.[/R]

Asian markets finished lower on Monday. The Nikkei 225 Average settled 0.6% lower at 18,087. Real estate and brokerages led the decliners. Sony, the biggest maker of game consoles in the world, declined 1.4% and Takeda, the biggest drugmaker by market value in Japan, jumped 1.2%. Mitsui Fudosan lost 2.8% and Nomura Holdings slid 2%.

The Shanghai Composite Index in China plunged 3.7% to settle at 3,941. The market dipped on sustained worries over monetary tightening. Yunnan Jingu Forestry, Henan Lianhua Gourmet Powder and Jiangsu Sopo Chemical fell by the daily limit of 10%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index shed 0.8% to close at 21,822. Sinopec, fell 2.9% in Hong Kong and 5.7% in Shanghai, after the company announced Chairman Chen Tonghai resigned on rumors of corruption. Banks also fell. China Construction Bank fell 2.3%, Bank of China declined 0.8% and ICBC fell 0.7%.

South Korean Kospi Index shed 0.8% to 1,757 and Australian S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.8% to 6,329. In Seoul, banks led the market lower, while autos advanced. Korea Exchange Bank declined 3.9%, still hurt by the news Friday that its largest shareholder, Lone Star Funds, sold a part of its stake. Kookmin Bank dipped 1.4% and Woori Finance Holdings dropped 2.1%. Hyundai Motors rose 3.2% and its affiliate, Kia Motors, gained 1.9%, as the Hyundai labor union softened its threats of a general strike. BHP Billiton led Australia lower, falling 1.2%.

[R]7:30AM NY-6:30PM Mumbai Sensex ends slightly higher in a subdued trading session.[/R]

The Sensex on BSE finished 20.36 points higher, or 0.14%, at 14,487.72.

The market-breadth was fairly positive as there were three gainers for every two decliners. For 1500 stocks which advanced, 1073 declined and 73 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 16 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,283 crore, lower than Rs 5,344 crore on Friday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 8,308 crore, also lower than Rs 9,251 crore on Friday.

Economic news

Nissan Motor Corporation is about to buy more components from China and India after the company’s profit declined for the first time after the record loss in 2000. Nissan will boost its global component purchases from low-cost countries to 24% of the total, from the current 14%.

Trading highlights

Indiabulls Real Estate was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 138 crore followed by Hindalco and Reliance Industries.

Advancers

Larsen & Toubro surged nearly 2.8% to Rs 2,166 and was the best performing stock on the market.. The company gained after it announced today that its board would meet on July 3 2007 to offer a special dividend. Other capital goods sector companies also rallied. The engineering company BHEL advanced 0.7% to Rs 1,450, after it announced it secured an order worth Rs 106 crore from RINL to be fulfilled within 28 months.

Telecom companies also surged. Reliance Communications gained nearly 2% to Rs 523, and Bharti Airtel ended up over 1.2% to Rs 833. Bharti Airtel is about to fulfill its ambitious plan to be in the digital media space and launch DTH services by December this year.

ONGC advanced 0.9% to Rs 917. ONGC said its net profit for fiscal 2007 surged 8% to Rs15,643 crore, in spite of a subsidy payout of Rs17,024 crore. The company had reported a net profit of Rs14,431 crore in fiscal 2006.

Decliners

Cipla led the decliners, down 1.8% to Rs 206. Auto shares declined on profit taking with Bajaj Auto down 1.7% to Rs 2,138, while Tata Motors lost almost 1.1% to Rs 677, and Maruti Udyog slipped 1.1% to Rs 753.

IT stocks were under heavy selling pressure. Satyam Computers lost 1.5% to Rs 455, TCS declined 1.3% to Rs 1,126, Infosys Technologies slid 0.8% to Rs 1,936, and Wipro dipped 0.4% to Rs 515.

ICICI Bank declined 0.2% to Rs 952. The bank failed to receive the permission of the government to transfer $477 million of insurance and asset-management holdings to a new company with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. likely to buy a stake. ICICI sold last week $5 billion of shares to raise funds to increase loans and investment. Index heavy Reliance Industries finished 0.1% higher at Rs 1,706.