Asian Shares Fall After Yellen Comments; Nikkei Bucks

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Asian Shares Fall After Yellen Comments; Nikkei Bucks Trend - NASDAQ.com

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(RTTNews.com) - Most Asian stocks fell on Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen
hinted in her speech at the annual Jackson Hole conference that a rise in interest rates could be on
the cards soon in the midst of an improving U.S. economy.
While Yellen's remarks raised the odds of a rate increase at the September FOMC meeting, many
market participants now look ahead to this week's U.S. jobs report for clues on the pace and timing
of future rate hikes.
Chinese shares ended on a flat note, as gains in industrial stocks offset weakness in the banking
sector. The benchmark Shanghai Composite ended down 0.28 point at 3,070.03 while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng index was down 88 points or 0.38 percent at 22,821.
The Nikkei average jumped 376.78 points or 2.30 percent to 16,737.49, the highest closing level
since August 17. The broader Topix index closed 1.97 percent higher at 1,313.24. Exporters Canon,
Honda Motor, Toyota and Mazda Motor climbed 2-6 percent as the dollar hit a three-week high
against the yen.
Australian shares fell for a third day as U.S. rate hike expectations and the dollar's strength weighed
on commodity prices. Disappointing new home sales data also dented investor sentiment. The
benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 46.30 points or 0.84 percent to 5,469.20 and the broader All
Ordinaries index shed 45.90 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 5,561.50.

The big four banks fell around 1 percent while mining

giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto ended narrowly
mixed. Gold miners Newcrest Mining, Norther Star
Resources and Evolution Mining slumped 3-11 percent
as gold prices dipped on a firmer dollar.
Oil Search, Origin Energy and Woodside Petroleum
dropped 1-3 percent after oil prices fell more than 1 percent in Asian deals on reports that Iran will

continue to ramp up output.

Online furniture retailer Temple & Webster Group lost almost 8 percent on reporting a full-year proforma loss of A$44 million. Crown Resorts dropped 1.5 percent after billionaire James Packer
offloaded a $448 million stake in the company.
Seoul shares extended losses for the fourth day as the dollar got a boost from hawkish comments
from Yellen and Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer
. The Kospi average slid 5.15 points or 0.25 percent to 2,032.35. While automakers led losses,
market bellwether Samsung Electronics rallied 1.7 percent.
New Zealand shares fell in line with a weak global trend. The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index
dropped 24.04 points or 0.33 percent to 7,367.26. Generis Energy, Skellerup Holdings, Spark New
Zealand, Kathmandu Holdings and A2 Milk lost 2-3 percent.
Chorus fell 1.7 percent after the fixed-line telecommunications provider booked a flat annual profit
and said chief executive Mark Ratcliffe
will step down from the position around the middle of next year. Air New Zealand, which announced
a fully imputed special dividend of 25 cents per share on Friday, climbed 2.5 percent.
Elsewhere, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was tumbling 1.4 percent and Singapore's Straits
Times index was declining 0.7 percent, while benchmark indexes in India, Malaysia and Taiwan were
down between 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent.
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday in reaction to a key speech from Yellen and disappointing GDP
and consumer sentiment data. The Dow slid 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 0.2 percent while
the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.1 percent.
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