STOCKS: Weekly review

Friday’s 3.2 per cent fall on the FTSE Asia-Pacific index took the pan-regional gauge back into negative territory for the week – a five-day decline of 2.2 per cent to 230.38.
But the end-of-week fall was less dramatic than the frantic selling seen in the US and Europe on Thursday.
Seoul’s Kospi index was Asia’s worst performer on Friday after tumbling into a bear market from its all-time May high. The benchmark sank the most in almost three years after declining 6.2 per cent to 1,744.88, leaving weekly losses at 2.7 per cent.
Exporters led declines in Seoul with market heavy-weight Samsung Electronics sinking 4.1 per cent to Won709,000 on Friday, although the world’s largest technology company by sales was still left with a weekly gain of 0.3 per cent.
Samsung was lifted earlier in the week on expectations that Google’s $12.5bn deal to buy Motorola Mobility, the US smartphone company, will help protect the Android operating system.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.1 per cent over the week to 19,620.01. The Shanghai Composite index was off 2.3 per cent to 2,534.36.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 Average retreated 2.7 per cent to 8,719.24 under pressure from the strengthening yen.

Shares in Europe’s banks fell to their lowest in more than two years this week as funding fears hit already stressed markets.
Credit Suisse fell 11.2 per cent to SFr20.96 over the week and domestic rival UBS shed 8.7 per cent lower at SFr10.65.
Deutsche Bank was among the biggest fallers on the Xetra Dax, dropping 10.2 per cent over the week to €27.21.
In France BNP Paribas fell 12 per cent to €32.75 and Société Générale lost 14.1 per cent to €20.87.
Italy’s UniCredit was down 14.8 per cent to €0.90.
The pan-European benchmark, the FTSE Eurofirst 300, fell 6 per cent to 909.79.
Industrial stocks were embattled on worries that the global economy was heading for a double-dip recession.
Carlsberg was the FTSE Eurofirst 300’s biggest faller this week, slumping 24.9 per cent over the five sessions to DKr355.80 after posting a worse than expected drop in second-quarter profit, prompting the company to cut its full-year guidance.
Germany’s biggest steelmakers followed most European companies lower. ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter lost 15.2 per cent to €20.95 and 15 per cent to €38.24, respectively.
The car industry also took a knock over the week. BMW fell 11.9 per cent to €52.30 and Daimler was 10.7 per cent weaker at €34.73. Italian vehicle makers fell with them – Fiat Industrial lost 17.9 per cent to €5.70, while Fiat dropped 20.1 per cent to €4.14.

The S&P 500 index finished the week down more than 3 per cent, sparked by a sell-off in tech shares and a barrage of bad economic news.
Shares in technology bellwether Hewlett-Packard were trading at their lowest price since 2005 on Friday. The shares were down 20.3 per cent on the day, and 27.3 per cent for the week.
Although HP reported that it topped earnings forecasts for its most recent quarter, it revised its full-year forecast sharply downward.
Dell had also reported disappointing consumer sales earlier this week. Its shares were down 3.6 per cent for the week.
Overall, tech stocks in the S&P 500 index were down 6.3 per cent for the week and the Nasdaq Composite index was off 4.9 per cent for the week to 2,385.71.
After Thursday’s sell-off, on worse than expected results from the Philly Fed business survey and a slowdown in home sales, traders were anxious to see if the broad S&P 500 index would touch the year low of 1,101, set last week.
The broad S&P 500 index was down fractionally for the day on Friday, and down 3.4 per cent for the week at 1,140.08. The blue-chip heavy Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3 per cent on Friday, and off 2.8 per cent for the week at 10,950.24.
Bank of America , among the leading decliners last week, finishing the five days down 2.8 per cent.
Regions Financial , hit lows not seen since 2009, down 4 per cent for the week at $4.14. PNC was down 4.9 per cent at $44.57.
Motorola Mobility was up 54.8 per cent for the week at $37.87, still short of the $40-a-share price Google bid for the mobile phone handset manufacturer earlier this week. Google shares were down 10 per cent for the week at $507.50.