Asian Stocks Tumble After Greek Vote

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks fell broadly on Monday, although Chinese stocks rose tentatively in response to a raft of support measures unveiled over the weekend. Investors turned risk averse after Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected austerity demands from creditors in Sunday's referendum, raising fears the cash-strapped country could be forced to exit the euro zone.

An emergency summit of all European Union leaders will be held on Tuesday to discuss the Greek referendum result on austerity measures and other overhauls that EU and IMF officials had demanded in return for rescue loans.

Chinese stocks closed sharply higher in a highly volatile session after policymakers unleashed unprecedented rescue measures over the weekend. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index surged 7.8 percent at the open before giving up all the gains in midday trading. The index once again drifted higher towards the close of trade to end the session up 89 points or 2.41 percent at 3,775.91.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 827.83 points or 3.18 percent at 25,236.28, leading a region-wide decline and marking its sharpest single-day loss since November 2011.

China suspended initial public offerings over the weekend, while the central bank said it would provide liquidity for margin trading. China's top brokerages and fund managers pledged to invest at least 120 billion yuan ($19.33 billion) into stocks aimed at halting the market rout.

State-owned investment company Central Huijin said it recently bought exchange-traded funds and would keep doing so. Leaders of 25 major Chinese mutual fund houses also pledged to buy shares as part of emergency measures to boost investor confidence and avert a sharper economic slowdown.

China Vanke Co., the country's largest residential developer, approved a plan to repurchase as much as 10 billion yuan ($1.61 billion) of its A shares after the government unveiled its biggest package of measures so far to avoid any social unrest resulting from investment losses.

Japan's Nikkei index fell 427.67 points or 2.08 percent to 20,112.12 as uncertainty over Greece's debt crisis prompted a flight to safe-haven assets, including the Japanese yen. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares declined 1.92 percent to finish at 1,620.36.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference he thinks the potential impact from Greece on share prices and the forex market would be very limited. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday that Japan's financial system remains stable and the central bank will monitor market developments carefully.

Banks fell broadly, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial all ending down over 3 percent each. Amongst top exporters, Honda Motor, Sharp Corp, Sony, Fanuc, Mazda Motor, Panasonic and Suzuki Motor fell 2-3 percent. Toshiba retreated 2.7 percent on a Nikkei report that the company's accounting scandal is worsening and it will now need to downwardly revise its past operating profits by more than 150 billion yen.

Australian shares tumbled as the outcome of the Greek referendum triggered widespread risk aversion. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell as much as 1.7 percent at the open before recouping some of its loss to end the session down 63.3 points or 1.14 percent at 5,475. The Australian dollar fell to a fresh six-year low as Greece's rejection of austerity measures and the turmoil in China's stock markets sparked safe-haven demand for the U.S. dollar.

Big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell 2-3 percent and smaller rival Fortescue Metals Group slumped 5.8 percent, weighed down by declines in commodity prices. Gold miner Newcrest Mining rallied 2.6 percent and rival Evolution Mining soared 7.4 percent as safe-haven bids pushed up gold prices.

Woodside Petroleum, Santos and Oil Search lost 2-4 percent. U.S. crude oil prices fell as much 4 percent in early Asian deals, before paring some losses as the shock waves from Greek voters' rejection of austerity spread through financial markets. News that the number of U.S. oil rigs in use rose for the first time in six months also weighed on oil prices.

AGL Energy dropped 1.8 percent after the company said it would take more than $600 million of write-downs on upstream gas ventures and sell underperforming businesses. The big four banks closed down between 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent, while investment bank Macquarie Group shed 1 percent.

On the economic front, job advertisements in Australia increased 1.3 percent month-over-month in June, after a broadly flat outcome in May, the latest survey from the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group revealed. Separately, survey data from TD Securities and Melbourne Institute showed that Australia's inflation expectations increased in June although the rate slowed from the previous month.

Seoul shares fell sharply to hit a two-week low on institutional selling after more than 60 percent of Greek people rejected conditions of a rescue package from creditors, raising fears about Greece's potential exit from the currency bloc. The benchmark Kospi average fell 50.48 points or 2.40 percent to finish at 2,053.93, led by losses in heavyweight Samsung Electronics and chemical companies such as LG Chem and Lotte Chemical. Media reports suggested that South Korea is working on a contingency plan to curb extreme price volatility in the financial markets.

New Zealand shares fell sharply amid fears of a Grexit. The benchmark NZX-50 index dropped 64.28 points or 1.10 percent to 5,776.62. Outdoor retail group Kathmandu Holdings led the decliners, falling 4.1 percent to $1.65, while Air New Zealand, Spark New Zealand, Fletcher Building and Trade Me Group dropped 1-3 percent.

Elsewhere, Singapore's Straits Times index was down 0.4 percent and the benchmark indexes in Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan were down between 1 percent and 1.3 percent, while Indian shares were marginally higher.

The U.S. markets were closed on Friday in observance of Independence Day.