HONG KONG (The NYT) -- Asian stocks fell on Monday after JPMorgan Chase reported heavy losses on U.S. mortgage and credit card loans, which cast doubt on consumer demand in Asia’s largest export market.

The U.S. dollar and the yen firmed as investors unwound riskier trades, while the euro remained under pressure, hurt by concerns about fiscal problems buffeting Greece, which has seen its budget deficit balloon and its credit ratings cut.
U.S. stocks fell by around 1 percent on Friday as JPMorgan’s results raised concerns about profits at banks and on data showing American consumer sentiment was weaker than expected, which followed a poor retail sales report earlier in the week.
“If your main export market is not going to see a consumer-led recovery led recovery this time, that is quite negative for Asia,” said Andrew Sullivan, a sales trader with the broker MainFirst Securities in Hong Kong.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan fell 0.38 percent, with sectors like consumer staples and materials leading the decline.
The Thomson Reuters index of regional shares was down 0.57 percent.
The Nikkei 225 average in Japan fell 1.83 percent, coming off a 15-month high struck last week, with bank shares leading declines over fears the market’s recent rally was over done.
“JPMorgan’s earnings dragged down other U.S. banking shares, and Japanese peers may follow suit, but on the whole, the bank’s earnings helped lead to profit-taking as there were concerns that those shares had already gone up too high,” said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equity marketing at Nikko Cordial Securities.
Hong Kong and Shanghai shares remained under pressure after a Chinese regulator asked banks to be cautious over lending strategies this year. Fears that Beijing is moving to curb credit growth to avoid inflation and economic overheating rattled shares in China and the rest of Asia last week.
Traders say a raft of Chinese data this week, ranging from fourth-quarter gross domestic product to December retail sales and industrial production could give clues on whether domestic consumption in China is helping to offset persistent weakness in U.S. demand.
The euro slid to a four-month low against sterling as the British currency gained ground on the dollar and the yen following a rise in British house prices and as the euro continued to be weighed down by concerns about Greece’s fiscal woes.
The euro fell as far as 88.03 pence, its lowest since mid-September, down 0.5 percent on the day.
The U.S. dollar and the yen were firm while currencies leveraged to global growth like the Australian dollar ran into a bout of profit-taking after an impressive run up since the start of the New Year.