CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading weak on Monday with investors mostly pressing sales amid concerns over mounting tensions in Ukraine. Weak economic data from China where manufacturing activity shrank in February, is also contributing to the weakness in the region.
After a sharp decline, the Australian market recovered some lost ground with a few front-line stocks finding support at lower levels. Besides geopolitical concerns, some weak economic data too contributed significantly to the market's decline early on in the session.
Consumer staples, mining and financial stocks are among the notable losers. Energy and property trusts stocks are finding some support.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which declined to 5,340.3, is currently trading at 5,381.3, down 23.5 points or 0.4 percent from its previous close. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 21.3 points or 0.4 percent at 5,394.1, nearly 40 points off the day's low of 5,355.2.
Among bank stocks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac (WBK) are down 0.2 to 0.6 percent, while ANZ Bank is trading lower by over 1 percent. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are down 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
Among top miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 2.6 percent and Rio Tinto (RIO) is down 1.1 percent.
Alumina (AWC), Lend Lease Group, ASX and AMP are trading lower by 2.8 to 4.5 percent. Harvey Norman Holdings, Bluescope Steel, Macquarie Group, ALS, Seek and Henderson Group are down 2 to 2.4 percent.
APA Group, AGL Energy, Woolworths, Leighton Holdings and Incitec Pivot are also trading sharply lower.
Meanwhile, Regis Resources and Newcrest Mining are trading higher, gaining 5.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively. James Hardie Industries is up nearly 3 percent and Oil Search is trading 2.5 percent up.
On the economic front, an index measuring the strength of Australia's manufacturing sector showed solid improvement in February, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group revealed on Monday - although it remains in contraction.
The latest purchasing managers' index for manufacturing came in with a score of 48.6 up sharply from 46.7 in January. However, a score below 50 signals contraction in a sector, while a reading above 50 means expansion.
According to the latest survey from TD Securities, inflation in Australia is expected to rise 0.2 percent on month in February. That follows the 0.1 percent forecast in January.
On a yearly basis, inflation is expected to climb 2.7 percent after the 2.5 forecast in the previous month. The yearly figure remains well within the Reserve Bank of Australia's target range for inflation of 2 to 3 percent - although it now moves above the midpoint.
According to a survey from ANZ, the total number of job advertisements in Australia was up 5.1 percent on month in February. That follows the upwardly revised flat reading in January.
Meanwhile, the total number of new home sales was up 0.5 percent on month in January, the Housing Industry Association said. That follows the 0.4 percent contraction in December.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading weak amid escalating tension between the Ukraine and Russia. In early trades, the local unit was quoting at US$0.8901, down more than 0.5 percent from Friday's close of US$0.8956.
The Japanese stock market plunged sharply with escalating political tensions in Ukraine and the resultant strength of the yen triggering some heavy selling across the board.
Besides information technology stocks and other export-oriented issues, shares from steel, non-ferrous metals, pharmaceutical, banking and automobile sections were among the prominent losers.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which plunged to around 14,443, was down 259.2 points or 1.8 percent at 14,581.8 at the end of the morning session.
The mood was so bearish that just ten stocks from the 225-stock strong Nikkei index were up in positive territory by the end of the morning session. Inpex Corp., up 1.3 percent, topped the list of gainers, followed by Fast Retailing, which was up nearly a percent.
Astellas Pharma, Alps Electric, NGK Insulators, Credit Saison, JTEKT Corp., Furukawa, Sumco Corp., Mazda Motor, Sharp Corp., GS Yuasa, Shionogi, Toho Zinc and Japan Tobacco were down 3 to 5 percent.
Hino Motors, Suzuki Motor, Isuzu Motors, Fujikura, Softbank Corp., Shizuoka Bank, Chiba Bank, Shinsei Bank, Canon Inc. (CAJ), Trend Micro and Fujitsu were also down sharply at the break.
Astellas Pharma, Alps Electric, NGK Insulators, Credit Saison, JTEKT Corp., Furukawa, Sumco Corp., Mazda Motor, is down nearly 6 percent. Alps Electric, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, JTEKT Corp., Furukawa Electric, Yahoo Japan, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Mazda Motor, Sumco Corp., Nippon Sheet Glass and Hino Motors are all trading lower by over 4 percent.
Advantest Corp. (ATE), Sharp Corp., Fujikura, Shionogi, Japan Tobacco, Suzuki Motor and Pioneer Corp. are down 3 to 4 percent.
Shizuoka Bank, Chiba Bank, Shinsei Bank, Olympus Corp., Sony Corp. (SNE), Fujitsu, JFE Holdings, Mitsubishi Motors, Chubu Electric Power and Sumitomo Chemical are also trading sharply lower.
On the economic front, capital spending in Japan was up 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. That was shy of forecasts for a 4.9 percent gain following the 1.5 percent increase in the previous three months.
Excluding software, capex also was up 2.8 percent - missing expectations for 4.6 percent but still up from 2.6 percent in Q3.
Company profits surged 26.6 percent on year, accelerating from 24.1 percent in the third quarter - while company sales were up 3.8 percent after adding 0.8 percent in Q3.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading around 101.40 yen, down from Friday's close of 101.65 yen.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably lower. New Zealand is down marginally, while Hong Kong and Shanghai are trading notably higher.
On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed on Friday, after seeing considerable volatility in the latter part of the session. A positive reaction to a slew of U.S. economic data including a report showig an unexpected acceleration in the pace of Chicago-area business activity triggered some strong buying early on in the session.
While the major averages closed well off their intraday highs, the S&P 500 still climbed 5.2 points or 0.3 percent to a new record closing high of 1,859.5. The Dow rose 49.1 points or 0.3 percent to 16,321.7, while the Nasdaq ended down 10.8 points or 0.3 percent at 4,308.1.
Major European markets too ended mixed on Friday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index closed just below the unchanged line, the German DAX index jumped 1.1 percent and the French CAC 40 index gained 0.3 percent.
U.S. crude oil ended higher on Friday, on some encouraging economic data from the U.S. with consumer sentiment rising and a better-than-expected Chicago business activity index, offsetting a drop in U.S. gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2913.
Nonetheless, gains were somewhat capped by the ongoing geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, with investors weighing the possible Russian response to the volatile situation unfolding in the Crimea region of the beleaguered country.
Crude for April delivery ended up $0.19 or 0.2 percent at $102.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX