ASIA
Japanese stocks ended at their lowest level in more than a
month Monday as a strengthened yen weighed down exporters, while
economic worries hurt mainland Chinese shares.
The Nikkei Stock Average ended 3.3% lower for its lowest
finish since June 27, while the Shanghai Composite fell 1.7%. Both
benchmarks had also dropped in the previous three sessions.
The losses in Tokyo came ahead of a busy week of earnings,
with Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Sony Corp. and Softbank Corp.
due to announce their quarterly results and update their outlook.
On Monday, concerns over the U.S. dollar’s recent fall
against the yen weighed on shares of companies with a large overseas
exposure as the greenback slid under the ¥98-level. The yen rallied
after BoJ Kuroda hinted that while fiscal consolidation is necessary,
Japan's economy faces its biggest risk from outside the country, saying
they are closely monitoring the situation in China to see if they
achieve a 'soft landing. Kuroda also said the CPI growth rate, capex
will gradually accelerate. On the sales tax, Kuroda said don't think
raising the tax in two steps will hurt economic growth.
Meanwhile, official data released before the stock market’s
open showed Japan’s retail sales climbed 1.6% in June from the year-ago
month, though just short of forecasts.
Shares of Toshiba Corp. gave up 5% and Japan Tobacco Inc.
lost 4.9%, while JFE Holdings Inc. slumped 6%, also weighed by a profit
outlook that missed expectations.
Nomura Holdings Inc. slid 5.7% in the downbeat market, even
as the broker reported a sharp surge in quarterly profits from the
year-ago period. The stock is still up more than 50% so far in 2013.
Shares of Fanuc Corp. rose 2.1% after the industrial automation firm reported better-than-forecast fiscal first-quarter results.
Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Kospi ended 0.6%
lower, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended 0.1% higher after a
choppy trading session. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.5%.
The drop in Shanghai and Hong Kong followed data from the
National Bureau of Statistics over the weekend, showing that Chinese
industrial profits rose 6.3% in June from the same month a year earlier.
The increase marked a sharp slowdown from a 15.5% rise in profits in
May.
The drop in Chinese equities also came after Beijing
ordered China’s National Audit Office to conduct an urgent review of
overall public debt.
Banks and property developers suffered declines, with Bank
of Communications Co. or BoCom, losing 1.8%, and China Resources Land
Ltd. shed 2.9% in Hong Kong.
In Shanghai, BoCom fell 1.9%, and real-estate major Gemdale Corp. stumbled 4.2%.
EUROPE
European stocks closed little changed, trimming earlier gains.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added less than 0.1% to 299.06
at the close of trading, having earlier climbed as much as 0.7%. The
gauge slipped 0.3% last week as earnings from BASF SE and ABB Ltd.
missed estimates
The Stoxx 600 has rallied 4.9% in July, the biggest monthly
gain since October 2011, as the Federal Reserve said it remains
flexible on the pace of asset purchases.
Danone, the owner of Evian bottled water and Activia
yogurt, climbed 3.2% as sales growth topped estimates. Elan Corp. rose
3.7% after agreeing to be bought for $8.6 billion. TNT slumped the most
in six months as the Dutch package-delivery company posted a loss.
A gauge of banks in the benchmark Stoxx 600 posted the biggest retreat among 19 industry groups.
Banca Popolare di Milano Scrl led financial companies lower, retreating 5.9%.
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA lost 4.6%.
Barclays Plc (BARC) fell 3.5% as Britain’s second-largest
bank by assets considers selling shares or contingent convertible bonds.
TNT declined 4.6%, the largest drop since January. The
company reported a second-quarter loss of 304 million euros ($403
million), after a profit of 39 million euros last year.
Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA), Europe’s biggest discount
airline, slipped 2.8% as first-quarter earnings dropped 21% on higher
fuel costs and an early Easter travel season.
USA
U.S. stocks fell, paring a monthly gain for the Standard
& Poor’s 500 Index, as fewer Americans signed contracts in June to
buy previously owned homes.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 1,685.13. The equity
benchmark lost less than 0.1% last week, halting its longest streak of
weekly gains since May 17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped
46.77 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,512.06 today. The S&P 500 has climbed 4.9% this month.
The Fed has said economic data will determine the timing
and pace of any reduction in its asset purchases. The central bank will
probably maintain its benchmark interest rate at 0.25% after concluding
its two-day policy-setting meeting on July 31, economists predicted. The
Fed will begin to reduce its bond-purchase program in September,
according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Fewer Americans signed contracts in June to buy previously
owned homes, showing rising mortgage rates are beginning to restrain the
housing market. The index of pending home sales dropped 0.4%, less than
forecast, to 110.9 in June after climbing a month earlier to the
highest level since December 2006, figures from the National Association
of Realtors showed today in Washington. The median forecast called for a
1% decline.
The week will offer further clues to the state of the
economy, with the release of data on U.S. gross domestic product and the
monthly labor report, as well as monetary policy announcements by the
Fed and the European Central Bank.
Investors will also watch this week’s earnings from more
than 130 companies listed on the S&P 500. Of the 265 companies in
the S&P 500 that have posted results so far this earnings season,
73% have exceeded analysts’ estimates for profit and 56% have beaten
sales projections, data show.
Energy stocks and financial companies lost more than 0.8%
for the biggest declines among 10 industries in the S&P 500. Perrigo
Co. fell 6.7% after saying it will buy Irish drugmaker Elan Corp. for
$8.6 billion. Omnicom Group Inc. added 0.5% after agreeing to merge with
France’s Publicis Groupe SA to create the world’s largest advertising
company.
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