Jakarta - Emerging-market stocks fell as Chinese shares tumbled the most in seven weeks amid speculation that reduced lending to the property industry will curb growth.
Ukraine’s bond yields declined amid offers of financial aid.
China Vanke Co. led Chinese developers lower after the Shanghai Securities News said Industrial Bank Co. and other banks have curbed lending to the property sector.
The Shanghai Composite Index sank 1.8 percent. Naspers Ltd. slid 1.1 percent in Johannesburg after saying its chief executive officer will step down.
The yield on Ukraine’s 7.5 percent government bonds maturing in April 2023 plunged 44 basis points, or 0.44 percentage point, to the lowest in two weeks.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index retreated 0.4 percent to 955.54 at 4:20 p.m. in Hong Kong.
Data today showed new home price growth in China’s first-tier cities slowed in January after local governments implemented property measures to rein in escalating values and banks tightened lending.
China’s central bank singled out developers this month as one of three types of borrowers most at risk as authorities seek to tame debt.
“This development in China has dented investors’ sentiment in emerging markets,” Akbar Syarief, a fund manager at PT MNC Asset Management, said by phone from Jakarta.
“They now have to reassess how far the Chinese economy will slow.”
The developing nations’ gauge has dropped 4.7 percent this year and is valued at 10.1 times projected 12-month earnings, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The MSCI World Index has fallen 0.2 percent in 2014 and trades at 14.8 times.
Property Slump
Nine out of 10 industry groups in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped, paced by technology companies.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped the most since January 6.
China Vanke, the nation’s largest listed developer, and Poly Real Estate Group Co. tumbled to the lowest levels since July 2010 in Shanghai.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. fell 2 percent in Shanghai, the steepest loss since September 10.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong fell 1.4 percent, the most since February 4.
Greentown China Holdings Ltd. tumbled 9.3 percent in Hong Kong, the largest loss since July.
Belle International Holdings Ltd. jumped 5.9 percent after posting full-year profit that beat estimates.
The yield on Agile Property Holdings Ltd.’s $500 million of 8.375 percent notes due February 2019 rose 12 basis points to 8.40 percent as of 4:07 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to data compiled Bloomberg.
The yield on Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd.’s $1.35 billion of 13 percent securities maturing in January 2015 jumped 25 basis points, the most since February 4, to 6.10 percent.
Naspers Drops
Naspers declined, the third-largest drag on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Koos Bekker, the South African billionaire who transformed Naspers from a print publisher into the biggest emerging-market media company, will step down as chief executive after 17 years.
Emirates NBD PJSC, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, fell 4.8 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its rating to underweight from neutral.
Dubai’s DFM General Index lost 1.4 percent, its second day of declines.
Ukraine’s bond yield dropped amid offers of financial aid from the UK, US and Europe.
The nation’s benchmark dollar debt due in April 2023 posted its biggest rally in two months on February 21, before lawmakers ousted Viktor Yanukovych as president and handed his powers to new parliamentary speaker, Oleksandr Turchynov.
The US, Europe and the UK have said they’re prepared to offer aid. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last week the situation in the former Soviet republic must stabilise before it gets more of the $15 billion promised in December.
Thai Blast
In Thailand, the SET Index lost 0.2 percent, poised for the lowest close since February 11, while the baht slid 0.1 percent.
Three people were killed when an explosion ripped through an anti-government protest site in Bangkok’s main shopping district, taking the death toll from Thailand’s four months of political unrest to 20.
Tata Power Co. jumped 5.2 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P BSE Sensex, after India’s electricity regulator allowed the company to increase power prices to compensate for higher coal costs.
The Sensex increased 0.4 percent.
NTPC Ltd., India’s largest power producer, plunged 11 percent to the lowest level since August 2006.
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission ordered utilities to charge production incentives based on actual offtake and not on their readiness to produce power at above 85 percent capacity utilisation.
Indonesia’s rupiah advanced 0.9 percent versus the dollar, while Russia’s ruble and Malaysia’s ringgit added at least 0.2 percent. South Korea’s won slid 0.2 percent to a two-week low.
Vietnam’s VN Index climbed 1.1 percent, while the Kospi index and Taiwan’s Taiex Index dropped 0.5 percent. - Bloomberg News