Asian stock markets are mostly lower Thursday, with the overnight weak close on Wall Street and concerns about the health of the global economy hurting sentiment. Sliding oil prices are weighing as well.
After opening notably lower, the Australian market has regained some lost ground with stocks finding some support in afternoon trades.
Energy, mining and financial stocks are weak, while information technology and healthcare stocks are finding support.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is down 18.6 points or 0.4 percent at 5,240.4, after declining to a low of 5,188.0 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries index, which declined to 5,168.4, is currently down 22.2 points or 0.4 percent at 5,214.9.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac (WBK) are down 0.4 to 0.7 percent, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia is flat. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are down 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.
Top miners BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) are declining 1.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. Fortesue Metals is lower by about 2.5 percent, while Newcrest Mining is moving up 2.1 percent.
In the oil sector, Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search and Origin Energy are down 2 to 2.5 percent, while Santos is declining more than 5.5 percent. However, Caltex Australia is moving up 3.2 percent after it flagged an up to 40 percent rise in its full year profit.
Arrium is declining nearly 9 percent. Seek, CSR and WorleyParsons are down 3.5 to 4 percent.
Carsales.Com, ALS, REA Group, Orica and Aurizon Holdings are down 2 to 2.5 percent, while Crown Resorts and Perpetual are lower by nearly 2 percent.
Meanwhile, Sonic Healthcare is moving up 3.2 percent and Investa Office Fund is up 2.1 percent.
On the economic front, the unemployment rate in Australia climbed to a seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was in line with expectations and up from 6.2 percent in October.
The Australian economy added 42,700 jobs in November - well above forecasts for 15,000 following the gain of 24,100 jobs in the previous month. The participation rate was 64.7 percent, topping expectations for 64.6 percent - which would have been unchanged.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened weak against the U.S. dollar amid falling crude oil prices. In early trades, the local unit was quoting at US$0.8290, down from Wednesday's close of US$0.8320.
The Japanese stock market drifted lower, with the overnight weak close on Wall Street and data showing weaker than expected Japanese machinery orders data hurting sentiment. The yen's sharp rise against the U.S. dollar contributed as well to the market's decline.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which plunged nearly 370 points to 17,043.6 in early trades, was down 165.0 points or nearly 1 percent at 17,247.6 when the morning session ended.
Chubu Electric Power declined more than 4 percent. Tokai Carbon, Nippon Electric Glass, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Nisshin Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, Hino Motors and Panasonic Corp. (PC) lost 2.5 to 3.5 percent.
Fujikura, Toho Zinc, Sony Corp. (SNE), Advantest Corp. (ATE), Japan Steel Works, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings and Hitachi Zosen were all lower by over 2 percent at the break.
Among the stocks that were trading higher, Yamoto Holdings was up 1.7 percent. Sumitomo Osaka Cement, Shin-Etsu Chemical and Hitachi moved up 1 to 1.2 percent.
Takashimaya, Maruha Nichiro Corp., Minebea Co., Nitto Denko KK and Nippon Express advanced 0.8 to 1 percent.
In economic news, core machine orders in Japan tumbled 6.4 percent on month to 778.0 billion yen in October, data from the Cabinet Office showed. The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for a decline of 1.7 percent following the 2.9 percent increase in September.
On a yearly basis, core machine orders tumbled 4.9 percent - also missing expectations for a contraction of 0.3 percent following the 7.3 percent jump in the previous month.
Meanwhile, an index measuring tertiary industry activity was down a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on month in October, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Thursday. That was in line with expectations and down from the 1.0 percent increase in September.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 117 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The dollar is currently trading at 118.10 yen, against Wednesday's close of 119.08 yen.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and Hong Kong are notably lower. Singapore and Indonesia are down marginally, while Taiwan and Shanghai are trading higher.
On Wall Street, stocks declined sharply on Wednesday, following a steep fall in crude oil prices.
The major averages ended the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 268.1 points or 1.5 percent to 17,533.1, the Nasdaq tumbled 82.4 points or 1.7 percent to 4,684.0 and the S&P 500 plummeted 33.7 points or 1.6 percent to 2,026.1.
Major European markets ended mixed on Wednesday. While the German DAX index inched up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the French CAC 40 index declined by 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil plunged to new depths on Wednesday, after a report from the Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles in the U.S. to have declined more than expected last week, even as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries slashed its global demand outlook for 2015 to the lowest in 12 years.
Crude oil futures for January delivery ended down $2.88 or 4.5 percent at $60.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
by RTT Staff Writer
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