Asian markets fall as Tokyo hit by weak data

Asian markets fell on Friday as a weak set of Japanese economic figures sent Tokyo diving while dealers looked ahead to a speech by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke later in the day.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 143.87 points or 1.60 percent to 8,839.91 as concerns about the global economy pushed down Japanese steelmakers.

JFE Holdings dropped 4.9 percent to 988 yen and Nippon Steel shed 5.6 percent lower to 151 yen, a day after it announced a 120 billion yen ($1.53 billion) one-time loss from a writedown on two loss-making Japanese mills.

Consumer electronics giant Sharp fell 12.8 percent to 198 yen on uncertainty over a proposed tie-up with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision and a report that it had yet to start mass producing screens for Apple's new iPhone.

Meanwhile, Seoul edged down 0.07 percent, or 1.26 points, to 1,905.12 and Sydney nudged up 0.4 points to 4,316.1.

Hong Kong shed 0.36 percent, or 70.34 points, to close at 19,482.57 and Shanghai lost 0.25 percent, or 5.07 points, to 2,047.52.

There was fresh evidence that global headwinds were dragging on the Japanese recovery, with data showing factory output unexpectedly fell 1.2 percent in July, while the strong yen also hurt exporters.

"It was originally assumed that the weakness in April-May would be temporary and followed by a rebound in summer. But such a scenario clearly fell through," said Tatsushi Shikano, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Adding to the woes in the key European market and uncertainty in the United States are growing fears about a slowdown in Asia, with shipments to China, South Korea and Singapore among those seeing big falls.

Other figures Friday showed Japanese consumer prices were down 0.3 percent on-year in July, the third consecutive monthly fall, while unemployment was flat at 4.3 percent.

Earlier this month data revealed a much worse-than-expected trade deficit in July of 517.4 billion yen ($6.5 billion).

Attention is mostly focused on Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Bernanke will address central bankers later in the day, with investors hoping he will announce plans for a new round of stimulus to kick-start the world's biggest economy.

But a slew of data in recent days suggesting a slow and steady US recovery -- including rebounding consumer spending -- has been interpreted as a sign he will hold off on further stimulus.

The Dow fell 0.81 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.78 percent and the Nasdaq 1.05 percent.

Also weighing on sentiment was a sharp drop in eurozone business and consumer confidence and a fifth straight monthly rise in German unemployment.

Also in Europe, France and Spain called for decisive action to curb crippling borrowing rates that are threatening Madrid and pushing it towards seeking a full bailout.

French President Francois Hollande, who is in Spain to meet Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, prodded European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi to act, as the central bank works on plans to restart a bond-buying scheme aimed at helping under-pressure economies.

The ECB is expected to give more details on the mechanism for any intervention by September 6.

In Seoul electronics giant Samsung rose 1.48 percent after a Japanese court ruled that it had not stolen technologies from Apple, dealing a blow to the iPhone maker a week after it won a $1 billion case in the United States.

On currency markets the euro bought $1.2520 and 98.26 yen, compared with $1.2504 and 98.26 yen in New York late Thursday. The dollar was trading at 78.50 yen against 78.59 yen.

Oil was higher, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October gaining 39 cents to $95.01 a barrel in the late afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for October adding 52 cents to $113.17.

Gold was at $1,658.30 by 0825 GMT compared with $1,655.30 on Thursday.

In other markets:

-- Taipei rose 0.35 percent, or 25.62 points, to 7,397.06.

Smartphone maker HTC rose 1.78 percent to Tw$258.0 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was 0.73 percent higher at Tw$83.3.

-- Manila closed 0.91 percent higher, adding 46.88 points to 5,196.19.

Alliance Global Group rose 0.34 percent to 11.78 pesos and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. fell 2.62 percent to 91.05 pesos.

-- Wellington rose 1.02 percent, or 37.12 points, to 3,666.68.

Air New Zealand gained 7.39 percent to NZ$1.09 and Telecom gained 2.07 percent to NZ$2.46.

-- Kuala Lumpur was closed for a public holiday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-markets-fall-tokyo-hit-weak-data-100442778--finance.html

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