Asia report: Markets finish lower after miserable Monday on Wall Street

Markets in Asia finished lower on Tuesday, following on from a disappointing session overnight across the Pacific on Wall Street.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.43% at 23.291.97, as the yen strengthened 0.28% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 108.66.

Carmakers, which had managed to make early gains, finished in the red with Honda down 0.56% and Toyota falling 0.18%.

Technology plays were also mainly lower, with SoftBank Group sliding 1.48% and Sony slipping 1.93%.

Apple suppliers were hit particularly hard after the California electronics giant suffered heavy losses overnight, after reports of a reduction in the number of iPhone X devices being produced.

Japan Display lost 0.83%, while Sharp was a bright spot, adding 0.25%.

Fresh data out of Japan showed a 3.6% improvement in retail sales in December year-on-year, well above the 1.8% rise expected by the markets.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was off 0.99% at 3488.19, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite fell 0.53% to 1,909.57.

South Korea’s Kospi was 1.17% lower at 2,567.74, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 1.09% at 32,607.29.

Among Seoul’s technology giants, Samsung Electronics reversed some of its Monday gains as it fell 2.77%, ahead of its earnings due on Wednesday, while SK Hynix was off 2.92%.

Oil prices were lower, with Brent crude last down 0.58% at $69.06 per barrel while West Texas Intermediate lost 1.02% to $64.90.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.87% below the waterline to settle at 6,022.80, with miners and the hefty financials subindex leading weakness across sectors.

BHP was off 1.27% in Sydney, while among gold producers, Newcrest Mining fell 1.83% and Evolution Mining reversed early losses to finished up 0.36%.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was down 0.3% at 8,298,58, led lower by utilities group Trustpower, which was off 3.2%.

The company was dealing with a proposal by its main shareholder, the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust, which would see the trust ditch customer rebates in favour of funding community projects.

Trustpower has long dominated the deregulated energy retail market in the area in and around the city of Tauranga, as the trust pays the rebate of up to NZD500 per year to Trustpower customers in the area only.

The down under dollars were mixed, with the Aussie last 0.01% weaker against the greenback at AUD 1.2355 while the Kiwi strengthened 0.14% to NZD 1.3638.