TOKYO: Asian stocks tumbled as the yen strengthened against the euro. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) slid 0.4 percent to 140.59 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, after climbing to a two-month high on Friday. Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras said Greece’s era of bowing to international creditors is over after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras conceded defeat in elections dominated by a public backlash against years of budget cuts. The yen gained 0.9 percent against the euro.
“If Syriza indeed gets more than a third of the votes, it can get a majority in the Greek parliament without needing to form a coalition government,” Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Asset Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, said by e-mail after exit polls pointed to the left-leaning party winning the vote. “This will likely continue pushing the euro lower on the remote possibility of Grexit.”
Tsipras has pledged a writedown of Greek debt and to abandon budget constraints that were imposed in return for aid, goals which Samaras said would risk Greece’s exit from the euro bloc. Tsipras has said he’ll keep the nation within the single currency area as he negotiates on the debt.
Japan’s Topix index lost 1 percent on a weaker yen. The nation’s December exports rose 12.9 percent from a year earlier, compared with the 11.2 percent increase projected by economists polled by Bloomberg.
South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.5 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.2 percent. Australia is shut for a holiday today, while China and Hong Kong markets have yet to start trading.
The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) fell 0.7 percent last week, its first such slide in 11 weeks. While the equity gauge touched a five-year high on Friday after a 63 percent gain during the past year, other gauges of investor enthusiasm are tumbling. Turnover sank 47 percent from its peak in December, while new equity account openings fell 50 percent and purchases using borrowed money dropped 38 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.8 percent today. The U.S. equity benchmark slipped 0.6 percent on Friday as disappointing results from United Parcel Service Inc. outweighed optimism central-bank stimulus outside the U.S. will boost global growth.
