Asian stocks fell for the second day in a row, following the longest slide in US stocks in the last two months, which has now lasted for three days. Investors are waiting for the conclusion of the periodic meeting of the Japanese central bank.
SoftBank fell 2,6% in Tokyo and Yahoo Japan fell 4,3% on a day as telecom and high-tech stocks extended yesterday's losses. Samsung Electronics fell 1,1% in Seoul after the world's largest smartphone maker reported second-straight quarter profits down. Australian Agricultural, a cattle farmer was growing up in Sydney following the signing of the free trade agreement between Australia and Japan which lowered tariffs on beef.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index contracted by 0,6%, falling to 137.69 by 9:41am in Tokyo. All the industrial groups were making losses. Investors sold high-tech and telecommunications stocks throughout the area, thus trimming the gains made by Internet companies in recent months.
"Equity valuations have peaked and from now on the markets will contract nervously," said John Vail, chief global strategist at Nikko Asset Management in Tokyo. According to Vail there is "an acceleration of the deterioration of the Chinese economy and its financial system and US and Japanese growth below expectations".
Japan's Topix slipped 1,6% today as the yen rallied against the dollar for the third consecutive day. The Bank of Japan is expected to leave its monetary targets unchanged. South Korea's Kospi fell 0,3% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0,4%. The New Zealand NZX 50 dropped by 1% also due to the bad performance of one of its shares, Xero Ltd (software for online accounting), which fell by 13%.
