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China stocks drop amid credit fears(Baystreet Foreign Markets Wrap (Canada) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Chinese stocks declined in Asia Friday amid concerns weak bank credit could hurt the nation's growth, while Hong Kong stocks staged a late rebound, tracking gains in Europe after strong German economic data. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index staged a slight gain of 17.01 points, or 0.2%, to 8,580.39 The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong picked up 47.01 points, or 0.3%, to close the week at 18,713.41. While most of the benchmarks ended the week with losses, Japan's Nikkei was notable for its eighth consecutive period of declines. Although down just 0.4% this week, the Nikkei is now 14.9% lower since the beginning of April. The session was marked by choppy trading in regional markets amid lingering uncertainty over the European debt crisis. In Hong Kong, those losses were offset by a 0.9% gain for banking heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC and a 1.3% rise for energy producer Cnooc Ltd. Regional firms with a high international exposure were also weaker amid the uncertain global climate. Lenovo Group Ltd. fell 2.1% and Esprit Holdings Ltd. slid 1.1% in Hong Kong. In Tokyo, Nikon Corp. and Nintendo Co. shed 1.3% each. Shares of Sony Corp. tumbled 4.5% after the company exited its joint venture with Sharp Corp. to make LCD panels and modules. Sharp also fell 1%, giving up early gains. Panasonic Corp. dropped 1.1% following a Nikkei report that the firm is among a group of electronics manufacturers planning to reduce inventories to generate cash. Property plays advanced, with Mitsui Fudosan Co. up 1.8% and Mitsubishi Estate Co. 0.7% higher after a Nikkei report that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will begin to invest in Japanese real estate for the first time since 2008. Worries about the euro-zone and Chinese growth hurt many resource stocks in the region. In Sydney, index heavyweight BHP Billiton Ltd. fell 1.2% in Sydney and Rio Tinto Ltd. shed 0.8%, while in Hong Kong, Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. dropped 1.6% and China Coal Energy Co. lost 1.4%. CHINA Shanghai's CSI 300 Composite Index fell 22.16 points, or 0.9%, to 2,573.10 The losses came amid worries that Chinese bank lending may also be slowing in another indication of cooling growth indicators. Bloomberg News reported Thursday that the nation's biggest banks may fall short of loan targets this year for the first time in at least seven years. Chinese financial shares fared badly amid worries over credit growth. In Hong Kong, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. slipped 0.2%, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. lost 1.6% and Bank of Communications Co. shed 0.8%. In Shanghai, ICBC gave up 0.2% and AgBank dropped 0.4%, while BoCom ended little changed. In other markets; Singapore's Straits Times Index deducted 6.78 points, or 0.2%, to 2,772.75 Korea's Kospi Index gained 9.70 points, or 0.5%, to 1,824.17 Taiwan's Taiex Index shed 53.26 points, or 0.8%, to 7,071.63 New Zealand's NXZ Index gave back 9.96 points, or 0.3%, to 3,486.23 Australia's ASX Index tripped 26.60 points, or 0.7%, to 4,029.25 © 1998 - 2012 Baystreet.ca Media Corp. All rights reserved. |