December 11, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 30, 1428

HONG KONG, Dec 10: Asian stocks closed sharply lower on Monday with investors booking profits after recent gains and ahead of a decision on United States interest rates by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

That decision is expected late Tuesday Asian time with most investors anticipating at least a 25 basis point rate cut, however, many in the markets fear this will not be enough to avert a US recession.

As result buyers were absent on the day and this helped Taipei to a fall of 1.43 per cent, Seoul slumped 1.4 per cent, Hong Kong shed 1.18 per cent, and Manila was down 1.9 per cent.

Gains elsewhere were milder with Sydney down 0.4 per cent, Tokyo slipped 0.l2 per cent, Wellington fell 0.87 percent, and Kuala Lumpur eased 0.6 per cent, as Mumbai fell 0.18 per cent while Singapore closed little changed.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices ended slightly weaker as investors refrained from buying on the eve of a key US interest rate decision.

Dealers said better-than-expected domestic machinery orders data failed to provide much of a boost for shares following a mixed session on Wall Street on Friday after news of moderate US job gains in November.

The Nikkei-225 index dropped 31.98 points to 15,924.39. Volume traded fell to 1.82 billion shares from 2.18 billion shares on Friday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices reversed early gains to close 1.18 per cent lower as China’s move to mop up excess liquidity in its banking system triggered across-the-board profit-taking.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, raised the bank reserve requirement by 1.0 percentage point effective December 25 for the 10th time this year.

The Hang Seng index closed down 341.37 points at 28,501.10. Turnover was 113.09 billion Hong Kong dollars (15.50 billion US).

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed down 0.4 per cent with investors sidelined ahead of a decision on US interest rates.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 29.6 points at 6,625.1 on volume of 1.54 billion shares worth 4.75 billion Australian dollars (4.16 billion US).

The US Federal Reserve was due to meet Tuesday and dealers said the rate cut may be smaller than initially expected.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed flat as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of a key meeting of the US Federal Reserve.

The Straits Times Index closed down 4.87 points at 3,553.08 on volume of 1.38 billion shares worth 1.87 billion dollars (1.30 billion US).

We don’t expect investors to come out in force until the outcome of Tuesday’s FOMC meeting is known, Westcomb Securities said in a note.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices eased 0.6 per cent as investors took profits after recent record gains.

The composite index lost 8.91 points to 1,425.13 on volume of 579.29 million shares, valued at 1.33 billion ringgit (400.8 million dollars).

The downturn is in line with our view that the KLCI is due for a correction this week, said Kaladher Govindan, head of research at TA Securities.

JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices ended 0.4 per cent higher as markets throughout the region mostly dropped in anticipation of an interest rate decision in the United States.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.87 per cent lower as cautious investors took to the sidelines ahead of a interest rate decision in the United States.

The NZX-50 index was down 35.44 points at 4,057.49 on turnover worth 105.11 million dollars (80.70 million US).

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed 0.18 per cent lower after Swiss bank UBS said it would writedown 10 billion dollars of losses linked to the US subprime crisis.

The 30-share Sensex index fell 35.32 points to 19,930.68.

Global and local news-led events weakened the market. Eyes will now be on a possible Fed rate cut which could boost the market again, said Bhaskar Kapadia, a partner with brokerage Pyramid Securities.—AFP