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%.
