November 29, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1427

HONG KONG, Nov 28: Asian stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday as investors followed Wall Street's lead and sold down the markets amid concerns over the state of the US economy.

This resulted in many markets falling from recent highs with Hong Kong the worst performer on the day, down 2.94 percent.

TOKYO: Share prices closed narrowly mixed Tuesday a late rebound as investors remained nervous about the health of the Japanese economy and the weakness of the dollar.

The Nikkei-225 lost 30.12 points to 15,855.26, having earlier been more than one per cent in the red. Volume rose to 1.71 billion shares from 1.51 billion on Monday.

HONG KONG: Share prices tumbled 2.94 per cent in a sharp correction, triggered by profit-taking in property after recent rallies and driving the benchmark below 19,000 points.

SYDNEY: Share prices closed 1.25 per cent lower as a large overnight sell-off on Wall Street dampened investor sentiment, sapping banking and resource stocks.

The SP/ASX 200 shed 67.9 points to 5,384.3. Turnover was 1.83 billion shares worth 5.56 billion dollars (4.33 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed sharply lower on profit-taking following Wall Street's pullback and weakness in other regional bourses.

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 1.04 per cent lower due to profit-taking in blue chips as investors declined to take any significant positions amid a lack of fresh leads.

JAKARTA: Share prices closed sharply lower, falling 2.19 per cent as the overnight fall on Wall Street and a weakening rupiah weighed on sentiment.

WELLINGTON: Share prices closed nearly unchanged, escaping the big falls seen in overseas markets. The NZX-50 gross index rose 0.85 points to 3,832.55 on turnover worth 94.8 million dollars (63.5 million US).

MUMBAI: Share prices closed down 1.25 per cent as investors locked-in gains from record levels and took note of a sharp fall on Wall Street overnight.—AFP