Market closes deep in the red
Dismal Asian growth data and a slump in new Chinese lending last month dragged the Australian sharemarket deep into the red but miners dodged most of the selling.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 41.8 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 5412.5 after the regional growth outlook was dealt a heavy blow from the near halving of total social financing in China and a surge in bad loans.
New yuan bank loans in China increased by 548 billion ($102 billion), 36 per cent less than in September and well short of forecasts, while in a sign of ongoing contraction in shadow banking activities total financing tumbled to 663 billion yuan from 1.13 trillion yuan.
Chinese bank bad loans jumped by 10 per cent in the September-quarter, the most since 2005, and amounted to 1.16 per cent of outstanding lending.
"That is a fourth straight contraction (in lending), but the extent of the decline has been easing," Westpac economist said.
"…the PBOC's selective easing has done little to animate private sector loan demand, with confidence weighed down by the weak property market and the associated uncertainty."
The Shanghai composite index climbed 0.7 per cent at the close of the ASX.
In Tokyo the Nikkei index tumbled 2.4 per cent and the yen soared after Japanese economy triple-dipped into recession.
Smashing the credibility of Japanese Prime Minister's Shinzo Abe's reform policies and the Bank of Japan's stimulus plans, Japan's GDP contracted 0.4 per cent over the quarter against forecasts for a 0.5 per cent expansion, while the annual rate was a contraction of 1.6 per cent.
Underscoring regional growth headwinds, Thailand's economy grew 0.6 per cent, well short of forecasts for one per cent.
The Australian dollar climbed US0.6¢ to US87.90¢ and government 10-year yields tumbled 8 points to 3.258 per cent.
The spot iron ore price fell 0.8 per cent to $US75.50 a tonne on Friday while Dalian iron ore futures reversed a 0.9 per cent rally to trade flat.
Gold jumped $US33 to $US1186 an ounce while copper climbed 0.7 per cent to $US6700 a tonne and Brent crude oil bounced 2 per cent to $US79 a barrel.
More to come…
