HONG KONG, Nov 9: Asian stocks closed mixed on Wednesday with opinions divided over the short to medium term outlook for the markets and whether or not interest rates have peaked, dealers said.
They said a weaker performance by Wall Street, after a disappointing outlook was given for the luxury housing industry, weighed on sentiment but this failed to impact on Hong Kong, Manila, Taipei and Tokyo which all closed higher.
With oil prices continuing to steady, fears surrounding inflation and the prospect of further rate hikes appear to have eased in those markets.
However, investors in Jakarta, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Sydney appeared far less enthusiastic and their benchmarks closed lower, in response to an array of individual factors.
These included Wall Street, inflation, interest rates, fears that bird flu could spread and earnings outlooks.
TOKYO: Share prices closed mixed as gains in the tech stocks put the Nikkei 225 index in positive territory for the first session in three but the mood was cautious ahead of key economic data.
The Nikkei-225 index rose 35.47 points or 0.25 per cent to 14,072.20.
Oki Electric rose 22 yen to 412 and NEC Electronics gained 180 yen to 3,440. Fujitsu added 31 yen to 854 and NEC was up 14 yen to 627, while Hitachi advanced 15 yen or 2.0 per cent to 750.
SEOUL: Share prices closed mixed Wednesday as investors remained jittery ahead of options expiry and the central bank’s decision on a key interest rate.
The KOSPI index closed up 0.88 points or 0.07 per cent at 1,227.59, off a high of 1,238.73 and a low of 1,218.98. Volume was 378 million shares worth 3.4 trillion won ($3.24 billion).
Rises outnumbered falls by 378 to 363 with 79 issues unchanged.
Dealers said strong program buying briefly lifted the index to around 1,240 points but fell short of supporting the level till the close.
Foreign and retail investors were both net sellers of shares. Foreigners sold 19.9 billion won worth of stocks while retailers shed 201.7 billion won and institutions were net buyers, worth 177 billion won.
Samsung Electronics shed 2,000 won to 601,000 while Hynix added 100 to 21,800. Samsung SDI dipped 500 to 106,500.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 1.35 per cent higher due to selected stocks staging a technical rebound amid a backdrop of easing concerns over bird flu and high interest rates.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 194.35 points at 14,597.55 on turnover of 25.01 billion Hong Kong dollars ($3.2 billion).
Properties gained with Sun Hung Kai Properties up 0.75 at 73.15, New World Development up 0.10 to 9.25 and Sino Land up 0.10 to 8.35. Cheung Kong gained 1.10 to 78.70, while Hutchison Whampoa rose 1.60 to 73.65.
SHANGHAI: Share prices closed 0.19 per cent lower on quick profit-taking after gains on Tuesday, with automakers slipping back and agricultural stocks hit by bird flu concerns.
The Shanghai A-share Index fell 2.16 points to 1,164.81 on turnover of 7.46 billion yuan ($920 million) while the Shenzhen A-share Index was down 0.89 points or 0.32 per cent at 281.50 on turnover of 4.79 billion yuan.
The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B-shares, lost 1.99 points or 0.18 per cent at 1,108.15 on turnover of 7.50 billion yuan.
The volatile auto sector was once again under pressure after gains Tuesday. Tianjin Faw Xiali Automotive, a partner of Toyota Motor, fell 0.06 yuan to 3.91.
Agricultural stocks were weighed down by bird flu concerns. Inner Mongolia Prairie XingFa lost 0.18 yuan to 3.11 after it said that a sharp decrease in demand for poultry, its core business, as a result of bird flu, is expected to hurt its 2005 earnings.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.07 per cent lower, pulled down by losses in heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) ahead of the release of its September quarter earnings.
Bearish sentiment also hit CapitaLand, which along with SingTel will report its earnings on Friday, as investors took a wait-and-see mode, the dealer said.
SingTel fell five cents to 2.40 on expectations earnings for the fiscal second quarter to September will slump from a year ago.
The Straits Times Index fell 1.66 points to 2,270.33. Market volume was 785 million shares valued at 745 million Singapore dollars ($441 million).
Among other blue chips, Singapore Press Holdings dipped two cents to 4.44, Singapore Airlines dropped 10 cents to 11.40, while ST Engineering jumped four cents to 2.58.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.28 per cent lower in thin trade with overnight declines on Wall Street and concerns over inflation weighing on sentiment.
The Composite Index fell 2.55 points to 906.55 and volume traded was 251.30 million shares worth 585.97 million ringgit ($155.12 million).
All key blue chips were flat, with Tenaga Nasional, Telekom Malaysia and Malayan Banking closing at 9.85, 9.45 and 11.10 ringgit, respectively.
BANGKOK: Share prices rose 0.18 per cent following last-minute buying in finance and small caps amid lackluster trading.
The Composite Index added 1.25 points to 696.85 points with 1.8 billion shares worth 10.5 billion baht ($254.6 million) traded.
Bangkok Bank shed 2.00 baht to close at 100.00 baht, and Kasikornbank lost 0.50 at 63.00 baht, but Siam Commercial Bank added 0.25 at 49.75.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed lower led by blue chip software shares as investors booked profits after recent sharp gains.
The Sensex slipped 9.02 points or 0.10 per cent to 8,308.78. Turnover was moderate at 26.85 billion rupees ($596 million).—AFP
