Business

Asian shares down as central banks wait and see

Posted July 21, 2016 7:00 am

By TERESA CEROJANO

FILE - This Monday, July 15, 2013, file photo shows the American flag and Wall Street sign outside the New York Stock Exchange. European stocks were down slightly on Thursday, July 21, 2016, despite gains in Asia, after the European Central Bank left its interest rates on hold as it monitors the impact of Britain's vote to leave the European Union. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) The Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Asian shares fell Friday as expectations of further stimulus following Britain's vote to leave the European Union were tempered by the European Central Bank's decision to keep its monetary policy intact. Comments by the Bank of Japan governor ruling out "helicopter money" for the tepid economy also cast a chill.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.2 percent to 16,609.19. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.4 percent to 21,904.53. China's Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.6 percent at 8,067.30. Australia's S&P ASX 200 slipped 0.3 percent to 5,493.80. South Korea's KOSPI shed 0.1 percent at 2,011.83. Southeast Asian markets were down.

WALL STREET: Stocks fell Thursday after a mixed set of earnings reports disrupted the market's recent record-setting run. Airlines dropped on worries that falling fares will hurt their profits. The Dow Jones industrial average sank, breaking a nine-day winning streak, its longest in three years. It lost 0.4 percent to 18,517.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 index also fell 0.4 percent, to 2,165.17. The Nasdaq composite sank 0.3 percent, to 5,073.90.

ANALYST VIEWPOINT: "Central banks were all but prepared to come up with some coordinated action if the Brexit vote has rained fire and brimstone on global financial markets. But it did not," said Bernard Aw of IG. "So central bankers are quite at a loss of what to do. Add more stimulus? Don't add more stimulus? And they decided to stick to a safer option - wait and see."

JAPAN: BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's comments ruling out so-called "helicopter money," or direct cash injections into the economy, were recorded a month ago but aired Thursday by BBC. The remarks pushed the yen higher against the dollar, in turn pulling shares lower.

OIL: U.S. crude gained 3 cents to $44.78 in New York. On Thursday, it sank $1 to settle at $44.75 per barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, gained 1 cent to $46.21. It fell 97 cents to $46.20 a barrel in London on Thursday.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 105.87 yen from 105.76 the previous day. The euro edged down to $1.1022 from $1.1027 on Thursday.

A woman looks at an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, July 21, 2016. Asian shares were higher Thursday as Japan's benchmark rose on hopes of Japanese government stimulus spending and better-than-expected earnings lifted Wall Street. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) The Associated Press

People walk past an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, July 21, 2016. Asian shares were higher Thursday as Japan's benchmark rose on hopes of Japanese government stimulus spending and better-than-expected earnings lifted Wall Street. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) The Associated Press

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