Employees work at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Japanese shares fell 0.59%, or 92.78 points to 15,641.68 yesterday.

AFP/Tokyo


Asian markets were mostly lower yesterday, after China released data showing the economy in 2013 recorded its slowest growth rate for more than a decade.
The losses came after a broadly negative lead from Wall Street, while Japanese gaming giant Nintendo briefly lost almost a fifth of its value following a forecast last week that it would see a net loss this fiscal year.
Tokyo fell 0.59%, or 92.78 points to 15,641.68, Sydney lost 0.21%, or 10.9 points, to close at 5,295.0 and Shanghai ended 0.68%, or 13.70 points, lower at 1,991.25.
Hong Kong closed 0.88% lower, giving up 204.40 points to 22,928.95.
However, Seoul rose 0.48%, or 9.30 points, to 1,953.78.
China said in the morning that its economy grew 7.7% last year, the same as 2012, which was the slowest since 1999. Gross domestic product expansion for the October-December quarter also came in at 7.7%, the National Bureau of Statistics said, from 7.8% in the previous three months.
The bureau said the economy “showed good momentum of stable and moderate growth” but it warned of “deep-rooted problems” including a mountain of local authority debt.
UOB Kay Hian analyst Fan Zhang told Dow Jones Newswires: “We see more downside pressure for China’s economic growth in 2014, mainly due to tight monetary policy, rising funding cost and slow recovery of demand.”
That was supported by Wendy Chen, Shanghai-based analyst for Nomura International, who told AFP: “Judging from the data, our outlook for 2014 remains that China’s economy will continue slowing down in the first half.”
In Japan Nintendo’s share price dived 18.43% at one point in response to its announcement on Friday that it expects a loss of ¥25bn ($240mn) in the year to March, reversing an earlier 55bn yen net profit forecast. The firm managed to claw back some of the losses and ended down 6.14%.
The sell-off added to pressure on the Nikkei index as the yen also rose against the dollar and euro on speculation the Bank of Japan will maintain its easy money policy when its policy board meets this week.
Reports said officials will wait until they can gauge the effect of a sales tax due to be introduced in April.  In Tokyo the dollar bought 104.16 yen against 104.30 yen in New York Friday.
The euro bought $1.3541 and 141.06 yen compared with $1.3535 and 141.17 yen in US trade.  Investors were given a soft lead from Wall Street Friday after a mixed set of economic US data.
Official figures showed housing starts tumbled almost 10% in December from a five-year high seen in November. Separately, the Federal Reserve said industrial output rose 0.3% month on-month in December, extending its streak of gains since July.
The Dow rose 0.25% but the S&P 500 fell 0.39% and the Nasdaq lost 0.50%.
In oil trade New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for February delivery, was down 47 cents at $93.90 a barrel in afternoon trade. Brent North Sea crude for March dropped 21 cents to $106.27.
Gold fetched $1,254.61 at 1130 GMT compared with $1,241.24 late Friday.
In other markets, Bangkok lost 0.42%, or 5.42 points, to 1,289.99, Jakarta closed higher 0.44%, or 19.34 points, at 4,431.57, Kuala Lumpur’s main index lost 0.30%, or 5.42 points, to close at 1,807.59, Singapore closed 0.59%, or 18.54 points, lower at 3,128.79, Taipei rose 0.30%, or 25.56 points, to 8,621.56,Wellington closed flat, edging down 3.45 points to 4,890.50 and Manila closed 0.31% higher, adding 18.51 points to 6,005.60.