Japan leads Asian stocks lower after US sell-off
HONG KONG (AP) — Most Asian stock markets sank Tuesday, led by Japan, as investors took their cues from a big sell-off in the U.S.
U.S. stocks had their worst day so far this year, with the major benchmarks all dropping more than 1 percent. Confidence among investors was sapped by a weak U.S. employment report last week even as some analysts blamed severe cold weather and noted that one weak month doesn't make a trend.
After strong gains in stock markets last year, investors fear prospects for more gains might be limited in the short-term.
Japanese stocks resumed trading after a holiday Monday, with the Nikkei 225 diving 2.4 percent to 15,522.79. Investors were getting their first chance since Friday to react to the U.S. jobs report, which showed December hiring slowed sharply, as well as the movement in the yen, which has risen strongly since last week.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched down 0.2 percent to 22,850.88 and Seoul's Kospi dropped 0.2 percent to 1,945.96. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dived 1.5 percent to 5,214.10. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, however, added 0.6 percent to 2,020.94.
"Equity markets and risk assets in general are having a decidedly shaky start to the year," Mitul Kotecha, head of global markets research for Asia at Credit Agricole CIB, said in an email. "Worries ahead of fourth quarter earnings releases and perhaps concerns about the economy in the wake of the disappointing U.S. December jobs report weighed on U.S. equities overnight."
Andrew Sullivan, director of Asian sales trading at Kim Eng Securities, said investors are watching for earnings later today from big U.S. companies such as J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo.
"I think there'll be a lot of caution. We've had a lot of companies pre-warn ahead of these earnings," said Sullivan.
Markets have also been perturbed by comments from the president of the Federal Reserve's Atlanta branch raising the prospect of ongoing reductions in economic stimulus despite the weak jobs report. Dennis Lockhart said Monday he would support further cuts "over the course of this year" if the economy continued to improve.
The Fed has said it will make an initial $10 billion cut to its $85 billion of monthly bond purchases that have supported economic recovery by keeping interest rates low.
Japan's Suntory Beverages & Food Ltd. rose 0.6 percent in Tokyo after its privately held parent, Suntory Holdings Ltd., said it was buying American whiskey maker Beam Inc. in a $13.6 billion deal.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.1 percent to 16,257.94 on Monday. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.5 percent to 4,113.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 1.3 percent to 1,819.20.
In energy markets, benchmark crude for February delivery was up 20 cents to $92 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 92 cents to close at $91.80 on Monday.
In currencies, the dollar strengthened to 103.38 yen from 103.21 yen in late trading on Monday. The euro was little changed at $1.3660.
