By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Asian stock markets ended the week down after a quiet session ahead of the holiday break, with Chinese car makers dropping after Beijing municipal authorities rolled out new regulations to cool consumer appetite for vehicle ownership.
Tokyo stocks eased 0.7%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was off 0.5%, South Korea’s Kospi Composite was down 0.4%, China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.7%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.3% and India’s Sensex added 0.3% in late trading.
Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore hosted abbreviated sessions on Friday.
In Hong Kong, car makers declined after the Beijing municipal government unveiled aggressive measures to curtail the number of cars sold in the city.
Beijing will limit the issuance of new car and micro-van license plates in the city to 240,000 in 2011, about one-third of the 750,000 vehicles expected to be sold this year. See story on China car makers.
Only registered Beijing residents will be able to obtain a license.
Dongfeng Motor (HK:489 13.08, -1.12, -7.89%) (DNFGY 0.00, 0.00, 0.00%) plunged 7.9%, Brilliance China fell 7.5% (HK:1114 5.41, -0.44, -7.52%) (BCAUF 0.76, -0.01, -1.31%) and Geely Auto (HK:175 3.43, -0.22, -6.03%) (GELYY 9.31, -0.09, -0.96%) ended 6% lower.
Also in China, concerns about a possible increase in interest rates in the near future weighed on banks.
Construction Bank fell 1.2%, following a 0.7% decline Thursday, and Bank of Communications ended 0.9% lower, extending its 1.0% fall the previous day.
In Japan, stocks were lower as the yen strengthened against the dollar and the euro. The euro was especially weak after Fitch cut Portugal’s long-term foreign-debt rating by one notch to A-plus on Thursday.
“It’s starting to appear that the (weak) euro is going to plague the market next year as well,” said Yutaka Yoshii, general manager at Mito Securities.
Companies with a large portion of sales in the euro zone, such as Olympus Corp. (JP:7733 2,528, -43.00, -1.67%) (OCPNY 30.38, -0.42, -1.36%) and Mazda Motor Corp. (JP:7261 245.00, 0.00, 0.00%) (MZDAY 29.40, +0.70, +2.44%) underperformed the benchmark index, each slipping 1.4% and 2.4% respectively.
Shares of marine shippers fell after Goldman Sachs downgraded Mitsui O.S.K. Lines to sell from buy and slashed its price target, citing expectations for a deterioration in supply and demand for dry-bulk carriers.
Mitsui O.S.K. (JP:9104 568.00, +1.00, +0.18%) shares closed down 2.5%.
