Asian shares were mixed since China's growth slows

European shares dropped as Greek default risk rises

Shares of major European companies declined significantly, pushing markets down, despite the preceding week’s gains. Investors responded to the increased risk of a Greek debt default with a massive selloff of the country’s government bonds. As a result, yields on Greece’s 2-year government bonds soared above 27% while 10-year bond yields climbed around 13%. Meanwhile, Germany's factory orders dropped unexpectedly in February, adding concerns that the European economy is still far from a recovery. Factory orders for February dropped 0.9% on a monthly basis, defying economists' expectations for a 1.5% gain.

The Eurostoxx 600 gauge, which represents the largest companies from the whole region, lost 2.4% to close at 403.69 points on Friday’s evening. Unlike one week before, all the sectors included in the index declined in value, while the chemicals and technology industries slipped the most by 5.3% and 4.6%, respectively. Among biggest losers, Alpha Bank AE and the Piraeus Bank SA lost 23% to 0.204 euros and 19.8% to 0.259 euros, posting the biggest retreat, since they began rallying in January, as concerns over Greek debt was exacerbated by declines in the US and Asia. Eurobank Ergasias SA, followed with a plunge of 16.8% to 0.089 euros per share. Among best-performing companies, Tullow Oil Plc, a multinational oil and gas exploration company founded in Tullow, Ireland, gained 20.2% to trade at 398 pence.

Meanwhile, British FTSE 100 Index decreased 0.9% to 6,994.63 points last week, while German DAX dipped 4.2% to close at the 11,712 mark on Friday’s evening.

US stocks decreased on low industrial production

Equity market in America traded in a mixed environment, mostly declining over last five trading days. The industrial production in the US fell by 0.6% seasonally adjusted in March, deeper than estimation of a 0.3% drop. The data was affected by curb of US oil industry and stronger US dollar. Meanwhile, industrial output contracted at an annual rate of 1% for the first quarter — the first such decline since 2009. However, US retail sales increased 0.9% in March — the biggest monthly gain in a year — but fell short of the predicted 1.1% increase.

The benchmark S&P 500 Index lost as much as 0.5% last week to close at the 2,081.18 mark. Almost all the sectors included in the gauge decline, while gains were led by energy and basic materials industries, which advanced 2.9% and 0.3%, respectively. Netflix Inc, an American provider of on-demand Internet streaming media, surged 25.7 to $571.55 last week, as company’s revenue jumped 24% and membership surpassed 60 million global users. Among other major gainers, US-based natural resource company, Freeport-McMoran Inc, followed with an increase of 12.9% to $24.23, while Southwestern Energy Co rose 11.9% to $27.16. However, Wynn Resorts Ltd plunged the most by 7.7% to trade $125.50, as company declared that Glass Lewis & a leading independent proxy advisory firm, has recommended that Wynn Resorts stockholders vote “FOR” all of Wynn Resorts’ director nominees.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a slight drop of 0.8% during the previous week to 17,826.30, while NASDAQ diminished as much as 1.13% to 4,931.81 points.

Asian shares were mixed since China’s growth slows

Share markets in the Asia-Pacific economic region showed a moderate growth during the trading week ended April 17, while the two of three main stock indexes decreased in a weekly value following their counterparts from other parts of the world. Meanwhile, China’s first-quarter GDP grew 7.0% at an annual pace, posting the slowest rise in six years. Monthly retail sales, industrial output and fixed asset investment data also fell short of expectations. People’s Bank of China stimulus measures so far have failed to boost economic growth. Australia's unemployment rate, in turn, dropped to 6.1%, since the economy added a surprisingly strong number of jobs.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index, which represents the biggest companies of the region, mostly from Australia, lost 1.3% to hit the 5,877.90 mark on Friday’s evening. Only two sectors showed a positive development last week, as energy and basic material advanced 3.3% and 0.6%, respectively. Consumer staples and telecommunications, in turn, lost as much as 3.0% and 2.8%. Senex Energy Ltd, an Australian energy company soared 23.4% to $0.395 per share, as the the Brent price rise 9% to touch a 2015 high before settling at $63.45 a barrel, after starting the week below $60. Mineral resources Ltd, a leading Australian based diversified mining service, in turn dropped 14.2% to $4.7199. Iluka Resources Ltd, also plunged by 13.4% to $6.18.

The Hang Seng Index registered a 1.3% upside movement to reach 27,739.71 points last week, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index increased marginally 0.1% to 5,881.75 points.

EXPLANATIONS

Indexes

• Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) or (SPX) - U.S. stock market index consisting of the 500 large-cap shares widely traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (INDU) - U.S. stock market index consisting of the 30 large publicly owned U.S. companies , primarily industrials

• NASDAQ Composite Index - U.S. stock market index representing all the stocks that are traded on the Nasdaq stock market, mostly technology and Internet-related

• New Zealand Exchange 50 Gross Index (NZX 50) - stock market index consisting of the top 50 companies listed on the New Zealand Stock exchange

• S&P/ASX 200-a market - capitalization weighted stock market index of stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange from Standard and Poor’s

• Hang Seng Index (HI) - Hong Kong’s stock market index consisting of 48 largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Exchange

• Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average (Nikkei 225 Index) or (NKY) - Japanese stock market index consisting of the 225 largest companies listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange

• FTSE 100 Index (UKX) - U.K. stock market index consisting of the 100 most capitalized U.K. companies trading on the London Stock Exchange

• DAX Index (DAX) - German stock market index consisting of the 30 largest and most liquid German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

• Eurostoxx 600 - stock market index, derived from the Stoxx Europe Total Market Index, consisting of 600 large, mid – and small-sized companies from 18 European countries

Chart

• Correlation - statistical measure of the linear relationship between two random variables. It is defined as the covariance divided by the standard deviation of two variables.

• Historical price changes - chart reflecting the historical price changes of particular region’s stock indices

Indicators

• Industry performance - weekly performance of industries within the particular stock market index

• Top performers - companies within a particular stock market index showing the best or worst weekly performance

• Performance - relative historical change of stock market index value