Asian stock markets are mostly trading notably lower on Monday with investors pressing sales following a weak lead from Wall Street where stocks declined on Friday amid renewed concerns about debt worries in the euro zone.
In the Australian market, energy, mining, financial, industrial and consumer discretionary stocks are mostly down in the red. Stocks from several other sectors too are exhibiting weakness. Mirroring widespread selling, all the sectoral indices are down in negative territory at present.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is down 73.2 points or 1.5 percent at 4,659. The broader All Ordinaries index is trading at 4,740, down 67.7 points or 1.4 percent from its previous close.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank is down 2 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia is trading lower by 1 percent, National Australia Bank is down with a loss of 1.5 percent and Westpac is losing nearly 2 percent. Bank of Queensland and Bendigo & Adelaide Bank are down 1.7 percent and 2.3 percent respectively.
In the mining space, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are down 1.2-1.5 percent, while Newcrest Mining is losing about 0.6 percent. Onesteel, Atlas Iron, Oz Minerals, Orica, Bluescope Steel and Iluka Resources are also trading notably lower.
Among energy stocks, Santos, Oil Search and Origin Energy are down 1.2-2 percent, while Woodside Petroleum is trading lower by 0.5 percent.
WorleyParsons, Boart Longyear, Seek, Sonic Healthcare, Challenger, Downer EDI, James Hardie Industries, Insurance Australia Group, Resmed and Boral are trading lower by 2-3 percent.
Elders Ltd shares are down more than 7 percent on weak financial results. The company has posted a loss of A$14.6 million in the first half ended March 31. The company also lowered its forecast for full-year underlying profit.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened lower and was quoting at US$1.0642 to the U.S. dollar, down slightly from Friday's close of US$1.0659. The Australian dollar is currently trading at 1.0604 to the U.S. dollar.
The Japanese stock market got off to a weak start on the back of a negative lead from Wall Street and concerns about debt worries in the euro zone following the rating downgrade on Greece. The yen's rise against the greenback and the euro also contributed to the sell-off.
With several front line stocks from across various sectors reeling under pressure, the market was down with fairly sharp losses at the end of the morning session.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which tumbled to around 9,448, was down 132.2 points or 1.4 percent at 9,474.8 at the break.
Steel, non-ferrous metals, banking, automobile, real estate, oil and foods stocks were mostly down in the red. Electric power, railway and communications stocks were trading mixed.
Tokyo Electric Power, which was trading lower by 6.5 percent, was the biggest loser in the Nikkei index. Komatsu, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Kobe Steel were down 4.3 to 4.8 percent.
Mitsui Chemicals, Yokohama Rubber, Sumitomo Osaka, Fujikura, Mitsumi Electric, Yahoo Japan, Softbank, Credit Saison, Toho Zinc, Nomura Holdings, Sumco, Japan Tobacco and Taiyo Yuden were trading lower by 2 to 3.3 percent.
Isuzu Motors, Hino Motors, Honda Motor, Mitsubishi Motor and Suzuki Motor were down 1-3 percent. Nissan Motor and Toyota Motor were also trading weak, while Mazda Motor was trading flat.
Among bank stocks, Chiba Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Trust & Banking were trading notably lower, while Mizuho Financial and Shinsei Bank were trading flat.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 81 yen level in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 81.94 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are down notably with their benchmark indices losing 1-1.8 percent. Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand are also trading weak. Markets across the region ended on a mixed note on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Friday, giving back some ground after closing higher in the two previous sessions. Disappointing guidance from two major retailers contributed to the weakness on the markets along with renewed concerns about the financial situation in Europe.
The Dow ended down 93.3 points or 0.7 percent at 12,512, the Nasdaq declined by about 20 points or 0.7 percent to 2,803.3 and the S&P 500 slid 10.3 points or 0.8 percent to 1,333.3.
Major European markets moved to the downside on Friday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index slipped by 0.1 percent, while the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index lost 0.9 percent and 1.2 percent respectively.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday on short-covering ahead of expiry of the front-month June contract. Light sweet crude ended up US$1.05 at US$99.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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