By Daniel Inman
Asian markets were lower on Tuesday following a negative lead
from the U.S., though regional Apple suppliers gained on reports of
strong sales of the new iPhones.
Stocks in Tokyo resumed trading after a public holiday on Monday
with the Nikkei Average down 0.7% as a stronger yen (USDJPY)
weighed on the market.
The currency strengthened slightly to 98.72 yen to the dollar
early in Asia compared with Yen98.84 late on Monday in New York and
Yen99.33 late on Friday.
Exporters in Tokyo were affected by the firmer currency --
especially car companies. Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) dropped 0.6%, and
Honda Motor Co. (HMC) was 0.9% lower.
Japan was catching up with regional losses in the previous
session when markets continued to come down from the initial
excitement following the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision last week
to leave its bond-buying program unchanged. That gave markets in
Asia a boost on Thursday, though stocks have weakened since
then.
"The global growth story is real, but probably not enough to
give equities an extra leg up right now," said Chris Weston,
Melbourne-based chief market strategist at broker IG. "It would be
healthy to have a bit of a pullback."
Regional markets took their lead from the U.S. where Wall Street
ended Monday lower as investors continued trying to determine the
Fed's monetary-policy plans. One official from the central bank
said on Monday the economy isn't strong enough for a pullback of
easy-money policies.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 was 0.5% lower with declines in
local miners. Rio Tinto (RIO) dropped 1.2%, and BHP Billiton (BHP)
slid 0.8%.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.4%.
Chinese stocks edged lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped
0.5%, and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.7% -- retreating from its
gains on Monday after data showed further improvements in China's
manufacturing sector.
Southeast Asia also fell, with the Philippines PSE Composite
0.3% lower, and Indonesia's JSX 0.3% lower. Singapore's Strait
Times Index , however, managed a 0.1% gain.
A number of Asian companies supplying U.S. technology giant
Apple (AAPL) moved higher on Tuesday after the company reported a
"record-breaking" opening weekend for its newest iPhones. Apple's
stock finished 5% higher on Monday, and on Tuesday Murata
Manufacturing Co. (6981.OK) gained 1.8% in Tokyo, LG Display (LPL)
rose 2.8% in Seoul, and Hon Hai Precision Industry (HNHPF) rose
0.8% in Taiwan.
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