MN: Asia Ends Mixed; Australia, India Hike Interest Rates
In an attempt to curb inflationary pressures, the central banks of Australia and India raised the interest rates by a quarter-point. The move came ahead of the United States Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting, leading most Asian shares to notch a mixed finish.
At 3.45 p.m. (I.S.T) Japan’s Nikkei gained back some of its losses and ended up 0.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1%. India’s Sensex and Australia’s ASX closed flat. China’s Shanghai Composite erased the earlier day’s gains and ended down 0.3%.
The Reserve Bank of India raised the lending and borrowing interest rates, while the Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly hiked the cash rates by 25 basis points citing inflation risks.
According to a Dow Jones Newswires, People’s Bank of China’s official Li Daokui said the bank should consider tightening monetary policy to head off risks of an asset-price bubble that may emerge from the huge amount of cash circulating in the economy.
Investors remained in the sidelines awaiting the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s meeting on November 2 and 3.
Stocks on The Move
Japanese exporters such as automaker Honda Motor, consumer electronic equipment maker Sony tumbled 2.3% and 0.9% respectively.
The world’s third-biggest maker of computer-memory chips Elpida Memory, in a preliminary earnings statement, said its first-half net income was 39.5 billion yen, compared with a net loss of 51.6 billion yen a year earlier. Shares of the company slumped 5.1% in Tokyo.
Asia’s largest listed carrier by sales All Nippon Airways ended down 0.7% after it agreed to plead guilty and pay a $73 million criminal fine related to “two separate conspiracies” to fix prices in the air transportation industry, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Chinese commodities related stocks that pushed the benchmark index higher in early trading session, slipped later in the day to end mostly lower. Shares of Jiangxi Copper lost 1.6% while Aluminum Corp of China closed flat. Yunnan Copper inched down 1% in Shenzhen.
However, China’s biggest lender Industrial & Commercial Bank of China was flat and developer China Vanke slid 0.4% each after China Business News said the government may cut the money supply next year.
Shares of State Bank of India jumped 1.6%, while HDFC Bank and Axis Bank added 0.2% and 1% respectively. Mahindra & Mahindra lost 1.1%, Tata Motors slipped 1.4% and Maruti Suzuki India was 0.8% lower.
