Asian stocks mostly lower
Asian stock markets were mostly lower Monday, but Japanese tech shares were boosted by Google’s strong earnings.
Oil prices fell below $81 a barrel as a month-long rally lost momentum amid the U.S. dollar rising moderately from recent lows.
The dollar’s slight turnaround triggered a round of profit-taking that sent shares lower, according to Jackson Wong, vice president at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong.
“The recent rally across the board, including commodities, was based on the weak dollar,” Wong said. “The weak dollar almost forced investors to invest in riskier assets.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.1 percent to 9,508.88 and China’s Shanghai Composite Index also rose, gaining 0.5 percent to 2,984.866. But most other indexes fell.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1 percent to 23,517.95. Banking heavyweight HSBC was down 2.2 percent — weighed down by U.S. financial stocks that have been affected by mortgage problems that could cost big banks billions. Shares of Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. fell at least 4 percent and JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell nearly 3 percent Thursday on Wall Street.
South Korea’s Kospi slid 1.1 percent to 1,880.54. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was off 0.8 percent at 4,649.7. Markets in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia were also lower.
In Tokyo trade, technology stocks were cheered by solid numbers from Google Inc. Its stock soared 11 percent after reporting that third quarter net income jumped 32 percent.
Electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. rose 1.9 percent, and Panasonic Corp. added 0.7 percent.
Decliners included Mazda Motor Corp., which fell 0.9 percent after the Nikkei financial daily reported Saturday that Ford Motor co. plans to reduce its 11 percent stake in the Japanese automaker.
Australian miners Rio Tinto Ltd. and BHP Billiton Ltd. were weak after scrapping plans for a $120 billion iron ore joint venture in the remote Outback after antitrust regulators in Australia, Europe and Asia opposed it or demanded changes.
BHP Billiton Ltd. fell 1.5 percent, and Rio Tinto Ltd. was down 0.7 percent in late afternoon trading.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average finished Friday down 0.3 percent at 11,062.78. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.2 percent to 1,176.19. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.4 percent to 2,468.77
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3890 from $1.3977. The euro had risen to $1.4100 on Friday. The dollar slipped to 81.22 yen from 81.43 yen after hitting a new 15-year low against the yen last week.
Benchmark oil for November delivery was down 50 cents to $80.75 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.44 to settle at $81.25 on Friday.
Source: AP