Investing.com - Asian stock markets were broadly lower during late Asian trade on Monday, as fears over the outlook for global growth weighed on the region’s exporters, while Spain remained at the center of worries that it will need a bailout.
During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.3%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index ended down 0.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.5%.
A recent rally spurred by a series of stimulus measures by major central banks around the world in a bid to bolster their economies faded last week, with investors shifting their focus back to concerns over the global economy.
Sentiment also remained vulnerable amid uncertainty over whether Spain will request a full scale sovereign bailout.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei settled at a one-week low, as the yen continued to strengthen against the U.S. dollar, dampening the outlook for export earnings for the country’s top exporters.
A strong currency undermines the value of Japanese exporters' overseas profits, and also makes Japanese shares less attractive to investors holding other currencies.
Shares in automakers Toyota and Honda slumped 1.55% and 1.8% respectively, while consumer electronic makers Canon and Sony tumbled 3.85% and 2.9% apiece.
But shares in struggling chipmaker Renesas Electronics surged 31.2% on reports that a Japanese government-backed fund was part of a consortium planning to counter a takeover bid from U.S. private-equity firm KKR & Co.
A report in the Nikkei business daily said firms to join in the bid included Panasonic and Canon, as well as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Fanuc.
Sentiment also remained vulnerable after Japan’s prime minister warned Beijing that anti-Japanese protests in China could further hurt the Chinese economy.
The protests are related to a dispute between China and Japan over ownership of a group of islands known as the Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese.
Elsewhere, in Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index was pulled down by losses in Chinese financial firms.
Market players said that growing uncertainty over the Chinese Communist Party leadership transition, expected to take place in October, and the ongoing island dispute with Japan, are also both weighing on sentiment, as well as lingering fears over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in Chinese economic growth.
A deeper slowdown in China, the world’s second biggest economy, would impair a global expansion that is already faltering because of the euro zone’s ongoing debt crisis.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia were dragged lower by losses in miners, which came under pressure amid the uncertain global growth outlook.
Mining heavyweights Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton lost 2.4% and 0.85% respectively, while gold producer Newcrest Mining dropped 2.6%.
In Europe, regional markets were broadly lower after the open. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.5%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.5%, London’s FTSE 100 shed 0.25%, while Germany's DAX slumped 0.2%.
Later in the day, Germany was to publish a report on business climate.
During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.3%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index ended down 0.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.5%.
A recent rally spurred by a series of stimulus measures by major central banks around the world in a bid to bolster their economies faded last week, with investors shifting their focus back to concerns over the global economy.
Sentiment also remained vulnerable amid uncertainty over whether Spain will request a full scale sovereign bailout.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei settled at a one-week low, as the yen continued to strengthen against the U.S. dollar, dampening the outlook for export earnings for the country’s top exporters.
A strong currency undermines the value of Japanese exporters' overseas profits, and also makes Japanese shares less attractive to investors holding other currencies.
Shares in automakers Toyota and Honda slumped 1.55% and 1.8% respectively, while consumer electronic makers Canon and Sony tumbled 3.85% and 2.9% apiece.
But shares in struggling chipmaker Renesas Electronics surged 31.2% on reports that a Japanese government-backed fund was part of a consortium planning to counter a takeover bid from U.S. private-equity firm KKR & Co.
A report in the Nikkei business daily said firms to join in the bid included Panasonic and Canon, as well as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Fanuc.
Sentiment also remained vulnerable after Japan’s prime minister warned Beijing that anti-Japanese protests in China could further hurt the Chinese economy.
The protests are related to a dispute between China and Japan over ownership of a group of islands known as the Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese.
Elsewhere, in Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index was pulled down by losses in Chinese financial firms.
Market players said that growing uncertainty over the Chinese Communist Party leadership transition, expected to take place in October, and the ongoing island dispute with Japan, are also both weighing on sentiment, as well as lingering fears over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in Chinese economic growth.
A deeper slowdown in China, the world’s second biggest economy, would impair a global expansion that is already faltering because of the euro zone’s ongoing debt crisis.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia were dragged lower by losses in miners, which came under pressure amid the uncertain global growth outlook.
Mining heavyweights Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton lost 2.4% and 0.85% respectively, while gold producer Newcrest Mining dropped 2.6%.
In Europe, regional markets were broadly lower after the open. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.5%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.5%, London’s FTSE 100 shed 0.25%, while Germany's DAX slumped 0.2%.
Later in the day, Germany was to publish a report on business climate.