Asian, European and US stocks in red

Asian, European and US stocks ended in red on Thursday. 

Germany’s DAX 30 index dragged down with 1.26% and Stoxx Europe 600 closed with a loss of 0.96%. The French CAC40 index decreased by 0.97%, Italy's MIB lost 0.76%, while the British FTSE100 index gave up 1.11%.

Wall Street also performed with losses on Thursday. Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38 % to 17 985.13 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.42% to 2 115.95 points.

Bank of Korea cut the key interest rate to 1.25% in response to growing pressure to ease monetary policy and stimulate growth.

South Korea's Kospi index dipped with 2.91 points, or 0.14%, to 2 024.17 points. The Korean won weakened against the dollar, as the pair traded at 1160.30 after the decision against 1150.47 before the announcement of cutting the interest rate.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended with a decline of 162.51 points, or 0.97%, to 16 668.41 points. In the early trading USD/JPY reached 107.80 but currently dropped to 106.80.

The Australian ASX 200 index closed with a drop of 0.15% to 5 361.93 points.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.14% to 2 1297.88 points, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite lost 0.32% to 2 926.70 points.

Asian markets posted mixed trading

Ahead of notable decisions that are expect to be taken by Bank of Japan (BoJ), the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) the Federal Reserve (Fed), market participants are playing cautiously today. Lunacy started to conquer first Asian markets with pushing Japan equities lower but Chinese higher in the early trade on Tuesday.

The Chinese Shanghai Composite index increased with 0.64% to 2 965.40 points, and Hong Kong’s  Hang Seng climbed with 0.48%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped with 0.49% to 17,353 points, and South Korean’s Kospi closed 0.25% up to 2 019.63 points.

The Australian benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.30% to 5 220.64 points.

Energy companies in the region traded mixed. Australian Santos reported a decline of 3.68%, while Japan's Inpex and Japan Petroleum recorded decreases of respectively 1.5% and 1.05%. Australia's Woodside Petroleum shares rose 1.44%, while China's Sinopec marked an increase of 1.46%.

The main exporting companies in Japan enrolled mostly downs. Shares of Toyota fell 0.72%, Nissan and Honda are down with respectively 0.99% and 0.69%. Sony reported an increase of 0.51% and Mitsubishi Motors wiped nearly 10% of the share prices.

Australian iron ore miners finished with declines after the steel-making component sloped to $66 per tonne. Fortescue Metals dipped with 6.25% and heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell respectively with 3.06% and 2.95%.

Asian indexes ended mostly with declines

Most Asian indexes recorded declines on Thursday.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.64 percent, while South Korean Kospi erased 0.46 percent. Hang Seng registered a decrease of 1.26%.

Shanghai Composite fell by 0.67%, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite added 0.18% to its value.

ASX 200 recorded a decline of 1.13%, pushed by the heavily-weighed banking sector, where the decrease was 2.5 percent.

Banks in Australia finished with sharp declines, shares of ANZ fell 5.21%, those of Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell 2.45%, Westpac wiped 4.58%, while shares of NAB fell 3 , 53%.

Japanese yen is trading  at 112.87 yen againts the US dollar. Despite the slight appreciation of the Japanese currency, the leading exporters closed the session with declines. Toyota wiped 1.56% of its share price, Nissan reported a decrease of 0.98 percent, while Honda declined with 1.6%.

Asian markets in the red today,only China closed with gains

Most Asian markets are coloured in red today, except China.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed with 128.17 points, or 0.76%, down to 16 911.32 points, continuing its decline from 0.6% on Monday.

In South Korea, the main Kospi index also closed with a decline of 11.75 points, or 0.60%, to 1957.87 points. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index registered a decrease of 0.61%.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 followed the trend and ended in the red by 34.81 points, or 0.68%, down to 5108 points, mainly due to losses in the energy and financial sectors and commodities. Those sectors recorded decreases of respectively 1.11%, 1.02% and 0.82%.

Chinese markets ended with growth, as Shanghai composite index closed with 2.57 points, or 0.1%, up to 2897.34 points. The smaller Shenzhen composite also passed the green with an increase of 8.89 points, or 0.51%, to 1741.65 points.

The major mining companies in Australia failed to hold the initial gains. Shares of Rio Tinto fell 2.60%,  BHP Billiton are down with 1.83%, while Fortescue tumbled 9.42% after Monday jumped 24%. The decline in share prices in the mining sector comes despite recent increases in commodity prices. The price of iron ore rose from 52.40 dollars to 62.60 dollars for only one day.

Companies extracting gold recorded a good session. Shares of Newcrest rose 1.30%, and those of Alacer Gold - by 0.72%. Spot gold is trading with an increase to about $1269.57 per ounce, which is less than the peak of $1279.60 on Friday, its highest level since February 3, 2015.

The Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor closed with a decline of 3.76% after the news, posted by Nikkei daily , that the company will issue convertible zero coupon bonds for 200 billion  Yen and will use most part of the revenues to expand its operations in India.

Shares of Japan's Softbank rose 1.69% after the company announced its plans for reorganization, as a result of which will separate domestic from international business, meanwhile appointing different executives.

Most Japanese exporters experienced difficulties because of the appreciation of the yen. Shares of Toyota fell 2.63%, while those of Honda - with 0.95%.

Energy players traded mixed. The share price of Oil Search closed up with 0.27%, but Woodside Petroleum was 0.33% down. Shares of Japanese Inpex fell 0.72%, while those of Japan Petroleum rose 0.29%. The Chinese mainland market Sinopec surged share of 2.91% and Petrochina - a decline of 0.51%.

Asian markets ended the trade in red

Asia stocks lost momentum today and closed the trade in red.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 initially rose by 1%  in early trade, but finished with 0.37% down, at 16,052.05. The broader Topix also erased gains and decreased by 0.68% to 1,291.17. South Korea's Kospi reported a decline of 0.11%  to 1,914.22, while the S&P/ASX 200 erased 0.43% and closed at 4,979.58 weighed by losses in the financial and the energy sectors, down respectively with 0.7% and 0.47%.

Chinese markets also lost the momentum from Monday. Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.79%, closing down 22.33 points to 2,903.95, while Shenzhen Composite lost 0.58% of its value, closing at 1,877.18.

Shares of energy companies were trading mixed. Australian Santos and Woodside Petroleum reported a decline in the price of respectively 1.18% and 0.11%. Japan’s Fuji Oil decline was 1.54%, while Inpex added 0.9 %.

Chinese energy companies ended trading mainly with a slump, the decline in the share price of China Oilfield is 1.2%.

The Australian giant BHP Billiton reported a net loss of 5.67 billion dollars for the first half of financial 2016 and reduced the interim dividends by 75% - from 62 to 16 cents per share, below the  expectations of 31 cents. However, shares of BHP Billiton ended the day with an increase of 2.62%.

Chinese stocks plunged to 13-month low

Chinese stocks tumbled to the lowest levels in 13 months, dragging down other Asian markets as investors reacted negatively to the renewed decline in oil prices back below $ 30 a barrel.

Shanghai Composite Index closed today’s session with a decline of 6.4% to the level of 2751 points as this is its first close below the psychological level of 2800 points since December 2014 onwards. This represents a decline of  47% of its peaks reached in June 2015-a year. 

ChiNext benchmark closed with a loss of 7.78% and Shenzhen Composite dropped by 7.12%.

Investors remain concerned about the capital outflows fueled by the weaker yuan. Sentiment is quite negative before the upcoming week holiday for the celebration of the Lunar New Year, starting on 7 February.
This provoked a decline in the other Asian markets. Nikkei fell by 2.35%, Hang Seng - by 2.48% and Kospi - by 1.15%.

China may restrict stock sales to stem falls

The decline in the Chinese shares continued today after Monday trade was halted because of a collapse of 5% of the stock exchanges. The benchmark Shanghai Composte lost 1.5% to 3,246.61 points, while the Hang Seng ended the day with 0.8 percent down to 21,168.81 points. Monday's suspension of trading led to a global equities sell-off, but today Chinese shares extended losses in a volatile session.

The Shanghai Composite fell 0.3% to close at 3,287.71 points, although it had opened more than 3% lower.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also fluctuated through the day, and ended 0.7% lower at 21,188.72.

Trading in Shanghai was suspended early on Monday under a new rule designed to limit dramatic falls in markets.

But regulators said on Tuesday they may restrict stock sales to stem falls.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said it would consider restricting the proportion of shares that major shareholders could sell during a given period of time.

The central bank also injected an unexpected 130bn yuan (£13.55bn; $19.94bn) into the market to keep borrowing costs down - in a move to reassure retail investors.

The measures, however, did little to prevent Chinese shares from falling in afternoon trade.

More volatility ahead?

Analysts said investors were waiting to see if Beijing could stem the latest selling in Chinese stocks and whether more measures would be introduced.

But Bernard Aw, market strategist at trading firm IG, said Beijing was arguably more concerned about economic growth than the stock market.

"Furthermore, it could look really bad if they have to throw in more measures when they are in the process of withdrawing the [last] rescue measures," he said in a note.

The new "circuit breaker" rule that suspended trading nationwide for the first time on Monday was created after sharp falls last summer and was meant to curb market volatility in China.

Monday's 7% fall in China spooked global markets. 

Overnight, US benchmark indexes lost up to 2% as concerns grew that the dive in the Chinese stocks was the start of another volatile period after last summer's dramatic market rout.

Oil continues to weigh

Escalating tensions in the Middle East, which affected oil prices, also dented investors' confidence.

Oil prices were flat after rising as much as 4% on Monday following the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended 0.4% lower at 18,374.00, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed down 1.6% at 5,184.43.

Only South Korean shares bucked the downward trend after a senior finance ministry official said the government would take action to stabilise the market if needed, following Monday's steep plunge.

The Kospi finished up 0.6% at 1,930.53.

Europe, USA and Asia stocks end mixed

Stock markets in Europe, USA and Asia closed mixed yesterday’s session.

The European Stoxx Europe 600 index declined by 0.54%. The German DAX index marked a decrease of 0.51%. The French CAC40 index fell by 0.56%. The Italian MIB stock index dropped by 0.23%. British FTSE100 index decreased by 0.17%.

US Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded an increase of 66 points (0.38 percent) to 17,634 points, S & P 500 rose 3.5 points (0.16 percent) to 2067 points in the morning session. Nasdaq recorded a decline of 14 points (0.27 percent) to 5084 points.

Shanghai Composite rose 0.65%, while Shenzhen Composite recorded a growth of 0.3%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell by 0.98% despite good data on machinery orders in October and revised upwards GDP growth for the third quarter.
South Korea's Kospi index remained almost unchanged, closing the session with a 0.04% increase. The Australian index S&P ASX 200 closed with 0.55% downwards. 

Asian stocks ended the week on red

Asian stocks finished the week in red after sharp falls in commodity prices amid the increasing expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December.

Crude prices hit two-and-a-half-month-lows on Thursday after the U.S. government reported a stockpile build four times above market expectations. West Texas Intermediate crude was last seen 0.5 percent lower at $41.55 a barrel in Asian trade.

Meanwhile, gold was stuck near a six-year low on Friday and copper also fell to its weakest level in more than six years, hurt by a strong dollar and persistent concerns over China's economy.

"We blame China's economic data for the latest drop in commodity prices, [especially] in copper. The close relation between the CRB index and the U.S. dollar broke down in June. The subsequent 9.6 percent decline in the CRB looks outsized against the 2.0 percent rally in the dollar index. We infer that China growth uncertainty displaced dollar as the driver of commodity prices," Tim Condon, head of research for Asia at ING Financial Markets, wrote in a note released Friday.

As such, major U.S.averages slumped more than 1 percent each overnight,as investors eyed several speeches from Fed officials that hinted at aninterest-rate hike next month. Wall Street posted its worst day since September 28, with the S&P 500 ending lower year-to-date for the first time since October 22 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average off more than 250 points.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended the session with a 1.4% decline, influenced mainly by commodity companies. With 5 % each fell shares of Baoshan Iron & Steel Co and China Northern Rare Earth. Shares of PetroChina and Sinopec fell by 1.9 and 2.1%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.2% after the aluminum producer Rusal reported a 11% drop in third-quarter profit and its shares fell 2.4%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index recorded a decline of 0.5%, but appetite for banks helped to offset some losses.

Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 1.5% after the company announced a plan to buy back shares worth 100 billion yen.

Toshiba's shares fell 5.9% after the electronic giant confirmed that Westinghouse account losses in 2012 and 2013

The Australian index S&P ASX 200 reported a decrease of 1.5% and reached its lowest level since October 2, mostly because of unsatisfactory performance of companies in the resource sector.

South Korea's Kospi index recorded a decline of 1% and ended trading near six-week lows. Shares in Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor fell by over 2%.
The Malaysian economy grew at its slowest pace in more than two years in the third quarter - 4.7% and the benchmark KLCI recorded a decline of 0.1%.