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HONG KONG, Aug 17: Asian stocks closed lower on Wednesday with the markets remaining skittish over the record cost of crude and sharp overnight falls on Wall Street, dealers said. Even Tokyo, which had defied the consolidating trend for seven trading days, succumbed with analysts expecting oil ‘to knock some gloss off’ trade.
Wellington bucked the trend and finished higher after billionaire Graeme Hart’s Rank group launched a 2.11 billion US dollar takeover bid for forestry products business Carter Holt Harvey. Jakarta was closed for a public holiday.
TOKYO: Share prices closed down 0.35 per cent, falling from early gains as investors locked in profits with overall sentiment still positive after the government and the Bank of Japan’s recent upbeat assessment of the economy.
The Nikkei-225 index lost 42.55 points to close at 12,273.12.
Chipmakers were lower, with Hitachi closing down eight yen at 681 yen and Toshiba falling two yen to 430.
Among automakers, Toyota rose 20 yen to 4,350 and Mitsubishi Motors gained three yen or 2.2 per cent to 142 yen. But Honda slipped 10 yen to 5,680 and Nissan inched down one yen to 1,155.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed flat as late buying of Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa helped the market recover from early sharp losses driven by profit-taking.
Cheung Kong closed up 1.95 dollars at 88.70, while Hutchison Whampoa was up 1.60 at 81.70.
Bank stocks were mostly higher, with HSBC gaining 0.292 at 128.10, Hang Seng Bank up 0.30 at 107.60, Bank of East Asia up 0.05 at 23.65 and BOC Hong Kong down 0.05 at 16.60.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed down 0.3 per cent after profit-taking ended a record rally as investors largely ignored a fall on Wall Street overnight.
The SP/ASX 200 was down 13.3 points at 4,467.9 on volume of 1.228 billion shares worth 3.78 billion dollars (2.91 billion US dollars).
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 1.09 per cent weaker on concerns corporate earnings could be hit by the recent surge in oil prices.
The Straits Times index dropped 25.07 points to 2,280.23. Volume totalled 926 million shares worth 1.05 billion Singapore dollars (640 million US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed flat as investor sentiment continued to be dampened by high oil prices and inflation concerns.
The composite index was down 0.11 points at 926.38 and volume was 386.78 million shares worth 545.39 million ringgit (144 million dollars).
Among blue chips, Tenaga Nasional was down 0.10 ringgit at 11.10, Telekom Malaysia gained 0.20 to 11.10 while Malayan Banking was unchanged at 11.10.
WELLINGTON: Shares prices closed 0.63 per cent higher, boosted by a surprise bid for forest products giant Carter Holt Harvey.
The NZSX-50 index closed up 21.20 points at 3,378.14 on solid turnover of US$146.45 million. —AFP
