June 08, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428

HONG KONG, June 7: Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Thursday with investors continuing to consolidate after falls on Wall Street overnight were sparked by fears of higher global interest rates.

Ongoing uncertainty over the Chinese markets also weighed on sentiment but a 3.03 per cent gain in Shanghai helped a few markets to close off their lows and this resulted in Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong ending the day flat.

Wellington was the worst on the day with a 1.41 per cent slump after its central bank raised interest rates while the prospect of higher rates in Australia pushed its benchmark down 0.41 per cent.

Mumbai was off 0.49 per cent, Kuala Lumpur shed 0.58 per cent, Singapore was down 0.49 per cent while a interest rate cut halted a major slide in Jakarta and it managed to close with a fall of 0.41 per cent.

TOKYO: Share prices closed almost flat for a second straight day, holding close to three-month highs as overnight losses on Wall Street deterred buying.

The Nikkei index reversed early losses to end above the 18,000 points line, but sentiment was cautious ahead of Friday's machinery orders data which often has a significant impact on stocks.

The Nikkei-225 index of leading shares added 12.45 points to 18,053.38.—AFP