Asian shares wilt in shadow of Wall Street’s earnings woes

Asian stocks skidded on Wednesday after weak earnings dragged down US equities, while the dollar was trading just below highs hit earlier this week.

S&P 500 mini futures ESc1 were down about 0.4 percent from late US levels, after US equities tumbled on weak earnings from bellwethers IBM (IBM) and United Technologies (UTX), while Apple Inc slumped in late trading after posting its results.

Financial spreadbetters expected Britain’s FTSE 100 to open 24 points or 0.4% lower; Germany’s DAX to open 40 points or 0.3% lower; and France’s CAC 40 to open 11 to 13 points or as much as 0.3% lower on Wednesday.

“As goes Apple, as goes the US stock market. So, unless we see something spectacular from European markets, we should see a modestly risk-off session in the US,” Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, said in a note.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan extended losses and was down about 1.1%.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index ended down 1.2%, snapping its six-day rising streak and pulling away from Tuesday’s nearly four-week closing high as the Apple news reverberated on related tech shares.

“Since the market had been rising, such bad news can take a toll,” said Hikaru Sato, a senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities. “But the impact from Apple’s weak forecast should not drag on.”

Spot gold shed about 0.7% on the day to $1,090.95 per ounce, after plunging to five-year lows on Monday as investors unloaded bullion against a backdrop of improving risk sentiment after Greece agreed on a plan with its creditors that will keep it in the euro zone for now.

Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday upgraded Greece’s sovereign credit rating by two notches and revised its outlook to stable from negative, citing euro zone countries’ initial agreement to start negotiations with Athens on a third bailout.

The euro edged down slightly on the day at $1.0935, toward Monday’s three-month low of $1.0808.

The dollar index was steady at 97.331 after rising as high as 98.151 in the previous session, its highest level since late April.

The dollar edged down about 0.2% against the yen to 123.67 yen after scaling a six-week high of 124.48 yen on Tuesday.

Crude oil futures remained under pressure as investors worried about ample supply.

US crude CLc1 was down 1.4% at $50.13, while Brent LCOc1 shed about 0.9% to $56.53.

Pakistani stocks at record high; rupee weakens

Karachi (Reuters): Pakistani shares hit a record high on Wednesday, as the market reopened after the long festival weekend of Eid al-Fitr and investors took fresh positions in chemical stocks in anticipation of better earnings.

The benchmark 100-share index of the Karachi Stock Exchange ended up 0.47%, or 169.02 points, at an all-time high close of 36,056.68.

Traded volume rose 3% to 621 million shares, while traded value increased by 17% to Rs. 16.5 billion.

“Investors took fresh positions in chemical stocks and renewed interest was seen in banking stocks with several closing at their upper limits,” said Mohammad Rizwan, vice-president at Topline Securities Ltd.

Arif Habib Corp Ltd rose 4.99%, while Engro Corp Ltd., Engro Fertilizers Ltd. and Fatima Fertilizer Ltd. gained 1.89%, 1.16% and 4.35% respectively.

Banking stocks also showed an upward trend, with Allied Bank Ltd., Bank Alfalah Ltd. and National Bank of Pakistan all rising 5%.

The rupee, however, weakened to 101.84/101.94 against the dollar, compared with the previous close of 101.80/101.87.

Overnight rates in the money market fell to 6.50% from previous session’s 7%.