HONG KONG, Oct 11: Asian stocks closed sharply mixed on Tuesday with inflationary fears again haunting investors, who remain cautious after last week’s sell-off, dealers said.
They said losses suffered in some markets were mild and reflected the down beat mood in New York while elsewhere local issues dominated trade and supported solid gains.
This was particularly the case in Tokyo where solid machinery orders and the passage of plans through the lower house of parliament to reform Japan Post helped the market to close 2.49 per cent stronger.
South Korea shrugged off the negative aspects of increased interest rates and rose 1.39 per cent amid upbeat central bank comments about the economy while the Philippines was supported by positioning ahead of the reporting season.
Malaysia was flat while Singapore and Thailand made slight gains. However, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand followed the world’s biggest market and ended the day lower. Hong Kong was closed for a public holiday.
TOKYO: Share prices notched up the biggest one-day gain in more than three years, snapping back from last week’s heavy losses as investors responded positively to upbeat machinery orders data.
Dealers said investors also welcomed news that the lower house of parliament had passed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s plans to privatize the massive post office, which is in effect the world’s largest financial institution.
The Nikkei-225 index gained 328.97 points to 13,556.71 on turnover of 2.7 billion shares. The Japanese market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.
Upbeat machinery orders were the main driver of the rally here, analysts said.
Core private sector machinery orders for August surged a seasonally adjusted 8.2 per cent from July, the Cabinet Office said.
“A sharp loss in the benchmark Nikkei index provided investors, including foreigners, an excellent opportunity to buy stocks here,” said Masayoshi Yano, senior strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center.
Banking group Mizuho jumped 61,000 yen to 740,000 and Resona surged 21,000 yen to 299,00 and non-life insurer Sompo Japan added 81 yen to 1,492 while Kobe Steel rose 20 yen to 348.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.90 per cent lower as mining and banking stocks were sold down following overnight losses on Wall Street.
Dealers said falls came after US stocks closed lower, as inflation concerns and auto parts maker Delphi’s bankruptcy filing weighed on sentiment, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.52 per cent.
They said investors were also nervous following the release of a National Australia Bank survey showing that while business sentiment edged up in September, it remained fragile because of concerns about the employment market.
The S and P/ASX 200 lost 40.3 points to 4,428.8. A total of 1.07 billion shares worth 3.21 billion dollars (2.43 billion US) were traded.
Dealers said mining blue chips BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto retreated following an overnight drop in metal prices. BHP Billiton shed 0.39 to 20.33 dollars and Rio Tinto fell 0.25 to 57.00.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.49 per cent higher, continuing to find support from indications of stronger economic growth this year but profit-taking limited gains.
The Straits Times Index climbed 11.63 points to 2,355.02. Volume totalled 1.38 billion shares worth 1.19 billion Singapore dollars (708 million US).
Among the banks, DBS jumped 50 cents to 16.80, gaining for the third consecutive day. United Overseas Bank rose 20 cents to 14.40 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp added 10 cents to 6.55.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed little changed in range bound trade with investors sidelined ahead of the third-quarter earnings season.
The composite index shed 0.45 points to 928.43 and volume was 389.21 million shares worth 547.24 million ringgit ($145.10 million).
Among blue chips, Tenaga Nasional was up 0.10 ringgit at 10.80, Telekom Malaysia was flat at 10.20 while Malayan Banking was down 0.10 at 11.40.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.26 per cent higher as continued support for gas distributor Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) and Indosat offset profit-taking elsewhere.
The composite index rose 2.849 points to 1,105.629 on volume of 591.78 million shares worth 785.66 billion rupiah (78.25 million US dollars).
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.27 per cent lower following a survey showing widespread pessimism about the outlook for businesses.
The NZSX-50 index fell 9.19 points to 3,404.85 on turnover of 93.4 million dollars (65.2 million US). Telecom bucked the lower trend, rising three cents to 5.94 dollars. Among other major stocks, Contact Energy fell 11 cents to 7.37 dollars and Fletcher Building fell three cents to 8.22.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed 0.67 per cent higher with software stocks in the lead after Infosys Technologies reported strong second quarter earnings.
The 30-share Sensex index rose 56.7 points to 8,540.56 on turnover of 28.25 billion rupees (631 million dollars) as 645 stocks rose and 1,803 declined. —AFP
