HONG KONG, April 24: Asian stocks followed Wall Street's lead and closed mostly lower on Tuesday with investors consolidating positions on the back of recent sharp gains and ahead of corporate earnings releases.
As a result Singapore was down 0.41 per cent, Sydney shed 0.34 per cent, Kuala Lumpur was down 0.29 per cent, Jakarta fell 0.26 per cent and Bangkok eased 0.10 per cent as Tokyo and Hong Kong both closed flat.
However, Mumbai surged 1.5 per cent after India's central bank declined to raise interest rates while Shanghai, up 0.26 per cent, and Seoul, 0.80 per cent higher, both ended the day in record territory.
TOKYO: Share prices closed flat, weighed down by Wall Street's retreat overnight and investor caution ahead of a slew of domestic company results and economic data due this week.
The Nikkei-225 index fell 3.6 points to 17,451.77. Volume slipped to 1.82 billion shares from 1.90 billion on Monday.
Besides domestic earnings and economic data, investors also would like to see what happens to US stocks in light of the earnings results there, said Nakanishi.
Toyota Motor slipped 40 yen to 7,370. Japan's automaker said it sold 2.348 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2007, beating US rival General Motors which sold 2.26 million cars and trucks for the same period.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed little changed as a recovery in China Mobile helped the market recoup early losses driven by Wall Street.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 16.23 points at 20,572.80. Turnover was 47.48 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.08 billion US dollars).
The market lacked momentum to rise further as investors took a cautious approach ahead of futures settlement, said Peter Lai, sales director at DBS Vickers.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed down 0.34 per cent after a choppy session which saw the market move in and out of positive territory.
The SP/ASX 200 closed down 21.0 points at 6,188.2. A total of 1.63 billion shares worth 5.90 billion dollars (4.9 billion US) were traded.
Dealers said the release of lower-than-expected inflation data for the first quarter to March provided some forward momentum as investors decided that the Reserve Bank of Australia is not likely to hike interest rates anytime soon.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.41 per cent lower on a consolidation after recent gains.
The Straits Times Index closed down 13.96 points at 3,374.52 on volume of 2.66 billion shares worth 1.67 billion dollars (1.11 billion US).
The market is consolidating as investors are looking for fresh buying catalysts, a dealer with a local brokerage said.
Singapore Press Holdings was up 0.04 at 4.46.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.29 per cent lower on mild profit-taking sparked by Wall Street's overnight downturn.
Dealers said the market's underlying tone was still strong but trading will likely remain rangebound in the immediate term.
The composite index closed down 3.86 points at 1,317.50 while volume traded was 1.46 billion shares worth 2.19 billion ringgit (639.98 million dollars).
The market is down due to the fall in the US market but overall sentiment is still fairly strong, said Vincent Khoo, head of research at Aseambankers.
The current profit-taking is healthy with no signs that the market will turn bearish any time soon, he added.
Tenaga was down 0.10 ringgit to 12.00.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.26 per cent lower as profit-taking in blue chips led by banks offset gains in some small caps.
The composite index closed down 5.157 points at 1,981.570 on volume of 5.62 billion shares worth 4.33 trillion rupiah (476.45 million dollars).
“The main contribution to index losses came from blue chips which have made strong gains recently. But it is healthy profit-taking,” said Mohamad Reza, a fund manager with brokerage firm Erdika Elit.
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.93 per cent lower, led lower by a sharp fall in market leader Telecom.
The NZX-50 gross index fell 38.53 points to 4,163.11 on light turnover worth 83.6 million dollars (62.0 million US).
The subdued tone came ahead of a public holiday Wednesday and a decision by the central bank Thursday on interest rates.
Telecom fell 12 cents to $4.84 as buyers disappeared.
MUMBAI: Share prices jumped 1.5 per cent after India's central bank left key short-term borrowing rates unchanged despite inflation running well above its comfort zone.
Dealers said the Reserve Bank of India's decision had been widely expected following a series of rate hikes earlier this year.
The Mumbai Sensex index closed up 208.39 points to 14,136.72.
Banking and automobile stocks rose smartly.
The RBI had raised short-term lending rates twice this year, by a quarter of a per cent each time to 7.75 per cent -- the highest level in more than four years -- to contain inflation running above six per cent, compared to an aim of 5.0 to 5.5 per cent.—AFP
