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HONG KONG, Oct 12: Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday following a lucklustre overnight performance by Wall Street and amid a fresh spike in oil prices, dealers said.
They said heavy losses suffered by Apple Computer in New York and caution over the outlook for the liquid crystal display industry had also compounded sentiment in Seoul and Taipei with both closing sharply lower.
Elsewhere, sentiment was dominated by the prospect of higher interest rates stemming from growing inflation and the rising price of crude, resulting in Singapore, Jakarta and Manila losing ground.
Karachi bucked the trend and made strong gains on the prospect that building companies would benefit from the massive reconstruction effort needed in the wake of last weekend’s earthquake.
Sydney also rose with bargain hunters apparently ignoring warnings that higher oil prices will feed into inflation and lead interest rates higher.
Mumbai was closed for a holiday.
TOKYO: Share prices closed lower, with the main Nikkei index losing ground as investors locked in recent gains and braced for a flurry of US earnings reports.
Dealers said gains came after the Nikkei notched up the biggest one-day gain in more than three years on Tuesday, snapping back from heavy losses.
The Nikkei-225 index lost 92.97 points or 0.69 per cent to 13,463.74 on turnover of 3.1 billion shares. But the broader TOPIX index added 0.90 points or 0.06 per cent to 1,406.89.
Mizuho Financial dropped 20,000 yen, Nippon Steel lost 13 yen to 424, Kobe Steel declined nine yen to 339, TDK fell 260 yen to 8,190 and Advantest slid 230 to 8,840.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 2.17 per cent lower as the market continued to consolidate following recent gains amid concerns at the prospect of higher interest rates.
The Hang Seng Index lost 323.75 points at 14,575.02. Turnover was 24.97 billion Hong Kong dollars (3.2 billion US).
Sun Hung Kai Properties fell 1.75 to 75.05, HSBC shed 1.80 to 122.10 while PetroChina was down 0.10 at 6.15, and China Mobile shed 1.50 to 34.10.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.89 per cent higher as bargain hunters moved in following recent sharp falls.
The SP/ASX 200 closed up 39.4 points at 4,468.2. Volume was 1.27 billion shares worth 3.16 billion dollars (2.4 billion US).
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 1.47 per cent lower, led down by sharp profit-taking which hit most of the region’s markets after a lacklustre performance on Wall Street as oil prices bounced higher again.
The Straits Times Index fell 34.49 points to 2,320.53. Volume was 1.26 billion shares valued at 1.09 billion Singapore dollars (645 million US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed little changed in range bound trade Wednesday in the absence of fresh leads although there was some light bargain hunting in selected blue chips.
The composite index added 0.06 points to 928.49 and volume traded was 412.63 million shares, worth 629.22 million ringgit ($166.81 million).
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.24 per cent lower on concerns that rising interest rates will hurt corporate earnings.
The composite index lost 2.649 points to 1,102.980 on volume of 667.39 million shares worth 1.03 trillion rupiah (101.93 million dollars).
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.38 per cent higher following strong gains by market leader Telecom.
The NZSX-50 index rose 13.15 points to 3,417.99 on turnover of 120.2 million dollars (83.3 million US).
Fletcher Building rose 18 cents to hit a record close of 8.40 dollars. Willis said the market continues to re-rate the business following a roadshow in Australia.—AFP
