June 26, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1428

HONG KONG, June 25: Asian stocks followed Wall Street's lead and closed mostly lower on Monday amid renewed fears over the housing market in the United States.

Investment bank Bear Stearns' move to bail out a distressed hedge fund it manages with a $3.2 billion rescue package underlined the problems of mortgage failures affecting the broader US financial sector.

The fund was heavily invested in mortgage-related securities and the bailout helped knock 1.37 percent off the Dow Jones last Friday.

Investors in Asia were also sidelined ahead Wednesday's US federal reserve meeting amid fears global interest rates could again be on the rise.

Regionally, Shanghai was by far the worst on the day with a 3.68 per cent tumble on fears its government will raise interest rates to cool its rapidly expanding markets.

Tokyo was down 0.56 per cent, Hong Kong was off 0.81 per cent, Sydney shed 0.83 per cent, Wellington fell 0.33 per cent, Singapore dropped 0.83 per cent while Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur were both down l.03 per cent.

TOKYO: Share prices closed down 0.56 per cent, hit by losses Friday on Wall Street where fresh signs of trouble in the housing market unnerved investors.

Dealers said players took the opportunity to pocket some more profits after the market's rise last week to a seven-year high, although the sell-off was contained by the weakness of the yen which is positive for exporter earnings.

The Nikkei-225 index dropped 101.15 points to 18,087.48. Turnover dropped to 1.93 billion shares, down from 1.95 billion on Friday.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.81 per cent lower in volatile trade, snapping six sessions of gains as investors locked in profits after sharp falls on China's bourses.

Dealers said the China markets were hit by renewed worries over interest rates after People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted as saying that he is not ruling out further interest rate hikes to curb inflation.

The local market ended the morning in positive territory as end of June window dressing helped reverse opening losses, but changed course again in the afternoon as investors fretted over the steep drop on China bourses.

The Hang Seng Index closed down 177.56 points at 21,822.35. Turnover was 83.96 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.8 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.97 per cent lower on continued profit-taking in selected blue chips.

The Straits Times Index closed down 35.05 points at 3,580.33 on volume of 4.88 billion shares worth 2.64 billion dollars (1.71 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 1.03 per cent lower due to a plunge in US markets and concerns over a hike in global interest rates.

The composite index lost 14.44 points at 1,377.13 on volume of 1.49 billion shares worth 2.1 billion ringgit (606.9 million dollars).

JAKARTA: Share prices closed little changed with early weakness from Wall Street's poor finish Friday offset by a rebound in Perusahaan Gas Negara, and gains in miners.

The composite index closed down 0.118 points at 2,152.203 on volume of 3.41 billion shares valued at 3.15 trillion rupiah (348.45 million dollars).

WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.33 per cent lower after sentiment was hurt by heavy losses on Wall Street and in the region.

The NZX-50 gross index fell 14.23 points to 4,270.91 on turnover worth 137.5 million dollars (105.4 million US).

A bit of weakness in the local market today and that's in reaction to a large fall in the Dow Jones on Friday, said Grant Williamson of Hamilton Hindin Greene.

Shares in casino operator Sky City bucked the trend, rising 18 cents to $5.19 after announcing the departure of its managing director.

MUMBAI: Share prices rose 0.14 per cent in cautious trade, as global markets turned weak ahead of a monetary policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

Dealers said software and automobile stocks fell on a sell-off.The 30-share Sensex index rose 20.36 points to 14,487.72.—AFP