By Daniel Inman
Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday after the yen strengthened
following the Bank of Japan's policy meeting, while a decline in
Samsung Electronics weighed on the South Korean market.
The dollar continued its march against a number of Asian
currencies, after Standard & Poor's upgraded its ratings
outlook on the U.S. to stable from negative on Monday, citing the
country's strong economic performance.
The greenback hit a new 2013 high against both Malaysia's
ringgit, last at 3.1460 ringgit, and the Philippine peso, which was
recently trading at 43.02 pesos to the dollar.
The yen however pushed back against the dollar after the Bank of
Japan's policy meeting disappointed the market, leaving policy
unchanged. In particular, the central bank did not extend its
low-price fund-supplying operation.
The dollar (USDJPY) fell sharply after the Bank of Japan
announced its decision -- last at Yen98.31 compared to Yen98.74
late Monday in New York.
Japanese stocks were flat at lunchtime, but shot lower as the
afternoon session got underway, reacting negatively to the stronger
yen. The Nikkei Average fell 0.9%.
Softbank Corp. (9984.TO) fell 0.5% in Tokyo after the company
agreed to raise its offer for Sprint Nextel Corp. (US-S) to $21.6
billion from $20.1 billion previously.
Also in Tokyo, Olympus Corp. (OCPNF) lost 1.1% after the Tokyo
Stock Exchange said it would remove the company's "security on
alert" designation, nearly one and a half years after the warning
was issued due to problems with the company's internal
controls.
South Korea's Kospi Composite declined 0.8%, with the index
weighed by its single largest constituent, Samsung Electronics Co.
(SSNLF), which lost 2.9% on concerns that its Galaxy S4 smartphone
may not be selling as well as expected.
There was also heavy selling in Southeast Asia, with the
Philippines and Indonesia hit particularly hard. These markets have
been under pressure in recent weeks, as concerns about high
valuations and outflows by foreign investors have led to
substantial declines.
The Philippines PSE Composite was down 3.2%, and the Indonesia
JSX lost 1.9%.
Australia resumed trading after closing on Monday for a public
holiday, getting its first chance to react to the events that
influenced the previous session -- namely, last week's
forecast-beating U.S. nonfarm payrolls data and disappointing
Chinese economic data that came out over the weekend.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3%.
Markets in mainland China remained closed for a three-day public
holiday, though Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong remained
weighed by the poor economic data out over the weekend.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was down 1.3% and the Hang
Seng Index was off 0.9%.
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