Asian markets slip, China warning weighs

HONG KONG—Asian markets slipped Tuesday as dealers looked for a spur to buy despite a positive lead from Wall Street, while optimism was hurt by a warning that Chinese demand for iron ore may be slowing.

Sydney was 0.37 percent lower, giving up 15.8 points to 4,275.0, Hong Kong slipped 1.08 percent, or 227.05 points, to 20,888.24 and Seoul lost 0.24 percent, or 4.85 points, to 2,042.15.

Shanghai ended 1.38 percent lower, giving up 33.34 points to 2,376.84.

“Across Asia, markets are weaker despite a fairly positive lead from US trade,” said Melbourne-based Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG Markets, in a note.

“Markets are just looking tired at these levels and in the absence of a catalyst it seems investors are happy to remain on the sidelines,” Shamu said, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

With few pointers, investors took a breather from a rally that has seen most markets rise between 10 and 20 percent since the start of 2012 thanks to upbeat data from the United States and easing fears over Europe’s debt crisis.

Wall Street provided a positive cue after Apple said it would use some of its $98 billion cash stockpile to pay its first quarterly dividend since 1995 – $2.65 per share – and buy back $10 billion of shares.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.75 percent, the Dow added 0.05 percent and the broad S&P 500 gained 0.40 percent.

Adding to Apple’s luster was its announcement that it sold a record three million new iPads, which launched globally on Friday.

However, Apple-linked Asian shares were mixed despite the news.

In Seoul LG Display rose 0.86 percent and Hynix Semiconductor added 0.51 percent and LG Innotek dropped 1.2 percent.

Confidence took a knock from comments by BHP iron ore president Ian Ashby that China’s iron ore demand appeared to be flattening as its economy slows and would soon hit “single digits if it’s not already there.”

His comments come amid fears China’s economy – on which many nations rely to drive their own growth – is headed for a hard slowdown.

The world’s largest consumer of raw materials announced a growth target of 7.5 percent for 2012, a marked downgrade from last year’s 9.2 percent growth and 10.4 percent in 2010.

It also posted a mammoth trade deficit of $31.48 billion in February as exports were further hit by weak demand in Europe and the US.

On oil markets New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in April, shed 62 cents to $107.47 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for May was down 52 cents at $125.19 in the afternoon.

On currency markets the euro and dollar held up against the yen, pushing back after the Japanese unit’s surge in recent years that was caused by global economic uncertainty.

In early European trade the euro was at $1.3220, compared with $1.3239 late Monday in New York, and at 110.71 yen compared with 110.35 yen. The dollar was at 83.77 yen, from 83.35 yen.

Gold was at $1,648.48 an ounce at 1045 GMT, compared with $1,653.64 late Monday.

In other markets:

— Singapore added 0.42 percent, or 12.64 points, to 3,002.73.

Singapore Airlines eased 0.37 percent to Sg$10.89 while DBS Bank added 0.21 percent to Sg$14.47.

— Taipei fell 0.89 percent, or 71.22 points, to 7,972.70.

Leading smartphone maker HTC lost 1.61 percent to end at Tw$610.0 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was 0.60 percent lower at Tw$83.2.

— Manila ended 0.48 percent, or 24.76 points, lower at 5,102.24.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone fell 0.8 percent to 2,664 pesos and San Miguel Corp. shed 0.08 percent to 114.90 pesos.

— Wellington was flat, edging up 1.04 points to 3,487.01.

Fletcher Building was up 2.06 percent at NZ$6.92, Contact Energy slipped 2.1 percent to NZ$4.48 and retailer The Warehouse Group was unchanged at NZ$2.75.

— Kuala Lumpur was 0.26 percent, or 4.02 points, higher at 1,577.62.

Petronas Chemicals shed 0.4 percent to 6.71 ringgit while Public Bank fell 0.2 percent to 13.62 ringgit. MMC Corp gained 5.4 percent to 2.95 ringgit.

— Bangkok added 0.60 percent, or 7.10 points, to 1,196.60.

Banpu rose 1.33 percent to 610 baht while PTT Plc gained 0.85 percent to 355 baht.

— Jakarta was flat, edging 2.57 points down to 4,022.17.

Car maker Astra fell 0.8 percent to 69,850 rupiah and Bank Rakyat slid 1.5 percent to 6,700 rupiah.

— Mumbai shares rose 42.81 points, or 0.25 percent, to 17,316.18.