Asian markets slip, Tokyo hit by weak data

HONG KONG: Asian markets slipped further on Friday as a weak set of Japanese economic figures added to growing pessimism that Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke will announce a raft of stimulus measures.

Tokyo slipped 1.11 percent by the break, Hong Kong shed 0.25 percent, Seoul lost 0.28 percent, Sydney was 0.15 percent off and Shanghai was flat.

There was fresh evidence that global headwinds were dragging on the Japanese recovery, with data showing factory output unexpectedly fell 1.2 percent in July, while the strong yen also hurt exporters.

"It was originally assumed that the weakness in April-May would be temporary and followed by a rebound in summer. But such a scenario clearly fell through," said Tatsushi Shikano, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Adding to the woes in the key European market and uncertainty in the United States is growing fears about a slowdown in Asia, with shipments to China, South Korea and Singapore among those seeing big falls.

Other figures Friday showed Japanese consumer prices were down 0.3 percent on-year in July, the third consecutive monthly fall, while unemployment was flat at 4.3 percent.

Earlier this month data revealed a much worse-than-expected trade deficit in July of 517.4 billion yen ($6.5 billion).