SYDNEY, NSW, Australia- Asian stocks closed the month and quarter on a dismal note Friday.
Timothy Moe, chief Asia-Pacific equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, told the news agency that the troubling triad of rising rates, slowing growth and strong dollar has intensified.
We reduce our forecasts further and expect a flat regional performance over the next two quarters with better returns on a 12 month view. The Nikkei 225 shed 484.84 points in Japan, or 1.83 percent, to 25,937. The Australian All Ordinaries fell by 81.90 points or 1.21 percent to 6,678. In New Zealand, the S&P NZX 50 dropped 134.33 points or 1.20 percent to 11,065. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 16.81 points or 0.55 percent to 3,024. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading against the regional trend with a more than 100 points gain, according to the time of writing.
The British pound was steam-rolled by the U.S. dollar during the Asian trading zone on Friday. The pound was at 1.1169 at the Sydney close. The euro went up to 0.9826. The Japanese yen was only a fraction higher at 144.36. The Swiss franc went up to 0.9765.
The Canadian dollar was up to 0.9765. The Australian dollar went up to 0.6504. The New Zealand dollar went down to 0.5724.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 34.13 points or 2.84 percent to 10,737 over night on Wall Street. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell by 78.57 points or 2.11 percent to 3,640. The Dow Jones industrials fell 458.13 points or 1.54 percent to 29,225, down 458.13 points or 1.54 percent.