Список проголосовавших за комментарий " Asian Markets Close: Nikkei -2.1%, Hang Seng -1.1%, Shanghai -0.5%<p>Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region ended the midweek session on a broadly lower note, taking a cue from Tuesday's slide on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei (-2.1%) paced the decline as the yen extended yesterday's advance. Overnight yen strength has pressured the dollar/yen pair to a new low for the year in the 111.15 area. Elsewhere, an op-ed in the Chinese press discussed the possibility of an economic slowdown in the second half of the year. The op-ed argued that the Chinese government should step in to stabilize growth.</p><ul><li>In economic data:<ul><li>Japan's All Industries Activity Index +0.1% month-over-month, as expected (last -0.2%). February trade surplus expanded to JPY680 billion from JPY200 billion (expected surplus of JPY550 billion). February Imports +1.2% year-over-year (consensus 0.6%; last 8.5%); +11.3% year-over-year (expected 10.6%; last 1.3%)</li><li>Australia's MI Leading Index -0.1% month-over-month (last 0.0%)</li></ul></li></ul><p><em>---Equity Markets---</em></p><ul><li><strong>Japan's</strong> Nikkei lost 2.1% amid weakness in most components. Financials were among the laggards with T&D Holdings, Dai-ichi Life Insurance, MS&AD Insurance Group, Sony Financial Holdings, Nomura Holdings, and Mitsubishi UFJ surrendered between 4.3% and 7.2%.</li><li><strong>Hong</strong> <strong>Kong's</strong> Hang Seng fell 1.1%, returning to levels from the end of last week. Hengan International Group, China Life Insurance, Ping An Insurance, Bank of China, and ICBC posted losses between 1.9% and 4.5%. Geely Automobile outperformed, surging 5.8%.</li><li><strong>China's</strong> Shanghai Composite ended lower by 0.5%. Shanghai Bailian Group, Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass, Fangda Special Steel Technology, Xinyu Iron & Steel, and Kangxin New Materials posted losses between 3.3% and 3.8%.</li><li><strong>India's</strong> Sensex registered its third consecutive loss, falling 1.1%. Bharti Airtel led the decline with a 3.2% slide. Tata Motors, ITC, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra&Mahindra, Tata Steel, and Maruti Suzuki settled with losses between 1.1% and 2.8%.</li></ul><p><em>---FX---</em></p><ul><li>USDJPY -0.4% to 111.24</li><li>USDCNY UNCH at 6.8875</li><li>USDINR -0.2% to 65.476</li></ul>"