Asian shares edged down in choppy trade on Monday,
encouraged by a fresh report of a potential framework for the European Central
Bank's new bond buying scheme, as well as hopes of a strong easing from the
Federal Reserve.
Central bank sources told Reuters on Friday that the ECB is
considering setting yield band targets under the bond-buying program to shield
its strategy from speculators, but the decision would not be made before its
Sept. 6 policy meeting.
There is a dearth of major economic data in Asia on Monday,
meaning the market's focus in the short-term will remain fixed on Europe, with
longer-term focus on the annual U.S. Jackson Hole meeting of central bankers
and economists later this week.
The FTSE CNBC Asia 100 Index [.FTFCNBCA 6030.29
58.37 (+0.98%)], which measures
markets across Asia, slipped 0.7 percent.
Seoul stocks edged down slightly as Samsung shares slumped
after a U.S. court ruled against Samsung Electronics in a smartphone patent
claim by Apple [AAPL 676.27 6.04
(+0.9%) ].
The slump offset news that rating agency Moody's had
upgraded South Korea's credit rating to match those of China and Japan.
Samsung Electronics closed down 7.5 percent, its largest
single-session drop since Oct 2008 that wiped $12 billion from its market
capitalization since Friday.
Other group companies included in Samsung's smartphone
manufacturing value chain were also hit, with Samsung C&T Corp, Samsung
Electro-Mechanics, and Samsung SDI all down 1 to 6 percent.
write ups from
Reuters with CNBC.com
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