May 10, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

HONG KONG, May 9: Asian stocks closed mostly down on Friday as the surging oil price raised fears of higher inflation and slower consumer spending, with the Japanese stock market tumbling more than two per cent. The Japanese market ended 2.06 per cent lower, with investors in Tokyo also fretting about corporate earnings prospects amid a US-led economic slowdown.

Indian shares also ended some two per cent down.

The Hong Kong, South Korean and Chinese bourses fell too, each sliding over one per cent, while Taiwan fell 0.84 per cent. Australia bucked the trend to rise nearly one per cent.

Crude oil surged past 125 dollars per barrel Friday to a fresh all-time high during trading in London, lifted by speculative demand amid concerns about tight global energy supplies.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed more than two per cent lower, weighed down by disappointing earning results from auto giant Toyota and a stronger yen, which is bad for exporters, dealers said.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index fell 287.92 points or 2.06 per cent to close at 13,655.34. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 31.19 points or 2.27 per cent to end at 1,341.76.

Volume rose to 2.01 billion shares from 1.88 billion shares on Thursday.

Toyota’s poor outcome as well as a rebound by the yen gave traders a cue for selling, said Yumi Nishimura at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares prices closed down 1.52 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng index closed down 386.62 points at 25,063.17. Turnover was 77.26 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.91 billion US dollars).

HSBC fell nearly 1.5 per cent and HKEx more than 3.0 per cent after downgrades by Morgan Stanley.

Sinopec was down 3.3 per cent and PetroChina lost nearly 2.0 per cent.

HSBC was down 1.48 per cent at 132.9 and HKEx fell 3.03 per cent to 150.2.

SYDNEY: Australia’s share market closed up 0.9 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 48.6 points to close at 5,771.8 and the broader All Ordinaries index added 43.5 points to 5,844.4. Turnover was 5.39 billion dollars (5.07 billion US).

The National Australia Bank’s shares jumped 4.0 per cent to 32.24 dollars after it released good results.

It was the banks’ turn to do the lifting today, said Dominic Vaughan at CMC Markets.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed down 0.31 per cent, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index closed 9.85 points lower at 3,162.03 on volume of 1.44 billion shares worth 1.66 billion Singapore dollars (1.22 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.4 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed up 4.92 points at 1,285.27.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed little changed, dealers said. The Jakarta Composite Index closed down 1.91 points at 2,375.03.

Leading the stock market’s gains were coal producer Bumi Resources, nickel and gold miner Antam, and index heavyweight Telkom.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.67 per cent lower, dealers said.

The NZX-50 gross index fell 24.43 points to 3,601.17.

Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said the erasing of early gains revealed “a lack of conviction” amongst investors.

The Warehouse fell 15 cents to 5.35 dollars. Telecom closed 14 cents lower at 3.83 dollars. Fletcher Building fell 19 cents to 8.29 dollars.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed 2.01 per cent lower, dealers said. The benchmark Mumbai 30-share Sensex fell 343.58 points to 16,737.07 points.—AFP