By Michael Kitchen
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Asian stocks traded sharply lower Tuesday, with exporters weighing on Tokyo, and financials sending Hong Kong lower. In early afternoon trading, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NI225 9,408, -181.34, -1.89%) was down 1.8%, and the broader Topix down 1.6%, as the U.S. dollar fell back below the 82-yen level to ¥81.92, hitting Japanese exporter shares. Sony Corp. (JP:6758 2,643, +25.00, +0.95%) (SNE 32.24, -0.02, -0.06%) lost 1.8%, Renesas Electronics Corp. (JP:6723 724.00, -41.00, -5.36%) (RNECY 4.74, +0.56, +13.40%) gave up 2.6% after trading in positive territory for part of the morning, and Toyota Motor Corp. (JP:7203 2,895, -58.00, -1.96%) (TM 70.87, -0.20, -0.28%) fell 2%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI 23,107, -100.06, -0.43%) dropped 0.5%, with banks helping lead the decline after a reported hike to top Chinese lenders' reserve requirement ratio. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (HK:1398 5.91, -0.07, -1.17%) (IDCBF 0.77, +0.01, +1.32%) gave up 1.2%, while Bank of China Ltd. (HK:3988 4.23, -0.02, -0.47%) (BACHY 13.65, +0.19, +1.41%) fell 0.9%. In Shanghai, ICBC (CN:601398 4.20, 0.00, 0.00%) fell 1%, and Bank of China (CN:601988 3.41, -0.01, -0.29%) dropped 1.5%, while the Shanghai Composite was 0.3% lower. Other Asian bourses also gave up ground, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO 4,618, -79.30, -1.69%) down 1.6%, hurt by weakness in the mining sector, and South Korea's Kospi (XX:KS11 1,890, -7.16, -0.38%) lost 1.5%. Taiwan's Taiex was down 1.1%, and India's Sensex (XX:SENSEX 20,250, -65.06, -0.32%) was behind by 0.7% in early Mumbai trading. |
