Asian stock markets are mostly trading notably lower on Thursday with the overnight weak close on Wall Street and worries about the Greek economy following the delay in announcing the debt relief prompting investors to indulge in some hectic selling. Profit taking after the previous session's fairly strong upmove is also contributing to the weakness.
The Australian stock market is down sharply with investors pressing sales almost across the board. Mining, energy, financial and consumer staples stocks are mostly trading notably lower. Industrial, healthcare and property trusts stocks are also trading weak.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is down 72.4 points or 1.7 percent at 4,181. The broader All Ordinaries index is trading at 4,257, down 70.4 points or 1.6 percent from its previous close.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank and National Australia Bank are both trading lower by 1.5 percent, Westpac is down with a loss of 3.6 percent and Commonwealth Bank of Australia is down 0.5 percent. Bank of Queensland is down 1.8 percent, while Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is trading lower by nearly a percent.
Among top miners, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Newcrest Mining are down 1.7 to 2.3 percent, while Fortescue Metals is down with a loss of over 3.5 percent.
In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum, Santos, Oil Search and Origin Energy are down 1.5 to 1.7 percent. Caltex Australia is trading lower by 2.2 percent.
Goodman Fielder is down nearly 5.5 percent following a sharp 77 percent decline in net profit for the six months to December 2011. Lynas Corporation is trading lower by over 4.5 percent.
Boart Longyear, Atlas Iron, Incitec Pivot, Oz Minerals and Amcor are down 3 to 4 percent. Echo Entertainment Group, Brambles, Seven West Media, Bluescope Steel, AMP, Panaust and Crown are trading lower by 2.3 to 3 percent.
Qantas Airways is trading nearly 5 percent up despite the company reporting an 83 percent drop in first-half profit to A$42 million. Primary Healthcare is gaining about 4.5 percent. Seek is up nearly 3 percent and David Jones is trading 2.8 percent up.
On the economic front, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.1 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - beating forecasts for 5.3 percent and down from December's reading of 5.2 percent.
Australia added 46,300 jobs in January, the data showed - blowing past expectations for an addition of 10,000 following the surprising loss of a downwardly revised 35,600 jobs in December. The participation rate was 65.3 percent, matching forecasts and up marginally from 65.2 percent in December.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened lower amid uncertainty over the second bailout for Greece. In early trades, the Aussie was quoting at US$1.0686, down from Wednesday's close of US$1.0752.
After a weak start and a subsequent smart recovery, the Japanese market faltered due to lack of support at higher levels.
Automobile stocks drifted lower on profit taking after recent sharp gains. Real estate, marine transport and steel stocks too opened on a negative note and were mostly trading weak when the morning session ended. However, oil, mining, electric power, foods and textiles stocks found fairly good support.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rallied to 9,310 after falling to 9,230 in early trades, was down 24.4 points or 0.3 percent at 9,235.9 when the morning session ended.
Advantest Corp. shares gained nearly 4 percent before retreating to slightly lower levels on profit taking. Mazda Motor moved up by over 3 percent.
Tokyo Electric Power, Furukawa Electric, Sharp Corp, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Nippon Electric Glass, Panasonic Corp, Mitsumi Electric, Sony Corp, Mitsubishi Materials and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding also posted strong gains in morning trades.
Daiwa Securities Group, Kobe Steel, Fujikura, Casio Computer, Asahi Glass, Sumitomo Chemicals, Matsui Securities, Konica Minolta, Chubu Electric Power, Fujifilm Holding and Yokohama Rubber too surged higher.
Meanwhile, Sumitomo Osaka, Yokogawa Electric, Oji Paper, Tokyo Gas, Mitsubishi Motor, Aozora Bank, Nippon Paper Group, Olympus Corp and Chiba Bank lost significant ground.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the mid-78 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 78.42 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably lower, while New Zeland and Shanghai are down marginally.
On Wall Street, stocks saw some volatility during the session and eventually ended the session mostly lower on Wednesday amid lingering uncertainty about the financial situation in Europe. Profit taking also contributed to the pullback by the markets.
The major averages edged up off their worst levels going into the close but remained stuck in the red. The Dow ended down 97.3 points or 0.8 percent at 12,781, the Nasdaq dropped 16 points or 0.6 percent to 2,915.8 and the S&P 500 slid 7.3 points or 0.5 percent to 1,343.2.
Major European markets turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index both ended the day up by 0.4 percent.
U.S. crude oil futures closed higher for a third straight day Wednesday, after the EIA's weekly report on crude oil showed an unexpected decline in inventories and on demand concerns over tensions brewing between Iran and Israel.
Light sweet crude for March delivery gained $1.06 or 1.1 percent to settle at $101.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Market Analysis
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.