Asian Stocks Fall On China Data; Ukraine Concerns

(RTTNews) - The Asian markets fell sharply on Monday, led by stocks in China, Hong Kong and Japan as investors digested weak economic data and fretted about the escalating standoff between Russia and the West over Russia's seizure of Crimea.

Shares in China and Hong Kong tumbled as disappointing trade and inflation data out of China stoked concerns about the health of the world's second-largest economy. China's exports unexpectedly tumbled by 18 percent last month, swinging the trade balance into deficit of $22.98 billion, while the consumer price inflation rose 2 percent in February from a year earlier, a 13-month low and down from 2.5 percent in January amid cooling demand, official figures showed.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 2.9 percent to 1,999, while the Hang Seng index dropped 1.8 percent to finish at 22,265. Chinese short-term rates and the yuan fell after the People's Bank of China cut the yuan fixing rate by 0.18 percent to 6.1312 per dollar, suggesting a possible policy push to boost exports.

Japanese shares lost ground as economic worries in the wake of weak GDP and trade data triggered profit taking after a four-day uptrend. The benchmark Nikkei average fell 154 points or a percent to 15,120, dragged down by real estate, oil and warehousing stocks. The the broader Topix index shed 0.8 percent. Sumitomo Realty & Development and Mitsui Fudosan lost over 2 percent each, heavyweight Fast Retailing declined 1.9 percent and exporters Honda Motor, Fanuc and Kyocera lost 2-3 percent.

The yen gained against all major currencies in response to the weak Chinese data and as the Bank of Japan kicked off its two-day policy meeting, with investors looking for further monetary easing measures to contour a possible slowdown from a sales tax rise next month.

Shortly before the opening bell, revised data showed that Japan's gross domestic product expanded just 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter and 1.5 percent through 2013, coming in slightly weaker than initially estimated. Another report from the Ministry of Finance showed that Japan posted a current account deficit of 1,589.0 billion yen in January - sliding into the red for the fourth straight month and missing forecasts for a shortfall of 1,411.8 billion yen.

Australian shares ended deep in the red, dragged down by miners on concerns about slowing growth in China. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9 percent to 5,411, retreating from a 5-1/2 year high reached on Friday. Top miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto lost 4-6 percent, reflecting weaker copper prices on concerns that China's demand is slowing.

Smaller rival Fortescue Metals Group plunged 9.4 percent and gold miner Newcrest tumbled 4.1 percent on falling gold prices, while Illuka Resources, Whitehaven Coal, Alumina, OZ Minerals and Arrium fell 5-11 percent.

Among the major banks, Commonwealth, NAB, Westpac and ANZ closed down between 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent. Wesfarmers gained half a percent on reports it is mulling an initial public offering for its insurance broking business. Leighton Holdings shares soared 11.4 percent. The construction giant said that its majority shareholder Hochtief AG plans to launch a conditional A$1.15 billion takeover bid to increase its stake in Leighton to just below 75 percent.

Seoul shares fell sharply on concerns over China and continued instability in Ukraine. The benchmark Kospi average dropped a percent to finish at 1,954, marking its biggest single-day loss in more than a month. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics fell 1.4 percent and Hyundai Motor dropped 0.6 percent. KT Corp lost a percent, extending Friday's losses, after the telecom ministry said it would launch an investigation into the latest hacking incident at the company.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 index slid 0.2 percent to finish at 5,118, mirroring the weakness elsewhere across the Asia-Pacific region. The benchmark index climbed three percent last week on optimism a strengthening economy will help bolster corporate earnings. Retailer Warehouse Group fell nearly 5 percent on going ex-dividend, utility Contact Energy dropped 1.7 percent and Fletcher Building, the nation's largest construction company, eased 0.4 percent. Among the prominent gainers, Kathmandu Holdings and Michael Hill both closed up over 2 percent each.

On the economic front, the volume of manufacturing activity in New Zealand grew a seasonally adjusted 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the previous quarter, Statistics New Zealand said - following the 1.3 percent increase in the third quarter.

Elsewhere, the key benchmark indexes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan were down between 0.2 percent and 0.6 percent, while Indian shares were modestly higher owing to strong buying support from foreign funds. Malaysian Airlines shares were down 10 percent after a passenger jet with 239 people aboard went missing over the weekend.

U.S. stocks ended on a lackluster note Friday, failing to sustain an initial upward move as lingering tensions in Ukraine tempered the excitement over the upbeat jobs report. The Dow rose 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent to a fresh record high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.4 percent.

The report from the Labor Department showed that non-farm payroll employment rose by 175,000 jobs in February compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 150,000 jobs. The unemployment rate, however, edged up to 6.7 percent after dipping to a five-year low of 6.6 percent in January.