HONG KONG, Feb 20: Asian shares fell on Friday, with banking stocks hardest hit on concerns over a global liquidity crunch after Wall Street tumbled to six-year lows in the wake of gloomy economic data.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index slumped 1.87 per cent to a near four-month low while the broad-market index fell to its lowest point in 25 years.

With economic worries mounting again, investors are moving to reduce their risky assets, said SMBC Friend Securities strategist Hideaki Higashi in Tokyo.

Hong Kong fell 2.5 per cent, Singapore lost 2.1 per cent, Sydney slid 1.4 per cent and Seoul dropped 3.7 per cent.

TOKYO: Down 1.87 per cent. The Nikkei-225 index fell 141.27 points to 7,416.38, the lowest closing level since October 27. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares declined 12.06 points, or 1.60 per cent, to 739.53, its weakest level since January 1984 after the Wall Street tumble.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial fell 2.3 per cent to 429 yen and Mizuho Financial slid 4.1 per cent to 188 yen.

Flash memory maker Elpida Memory dived 15 per cent to 512 yen after a ratings downgrade by Standard & Poor’s.

HONG KONG: Down 2.5 per cent. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 324.19 points to 12,699.17.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China fell 2.7 per cent to $3.26 , Bank of Communications slid 4.2 per cent to 4.80 and Ping An Insurance dropped 2.4 per cent to 3.26.

Hong Kong developers remained weak on expectations of further falls in property prices.

SYDNEY: Down 1.4 per cent. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 46.5 points to 3,402.4.

Once again, the local banks followed very weak leads from their US counterparts, said IG Markets analyst Ben Potter.

Westpac sank 3.7 per cent to 16.38, National Australia Bank fell 2.1 per cent to 18.01, Commonwealth Bank eased 0.9 per cent and ANZ Banking Group was off 1.2 per cent to 12.45.

Australia’s largest investment bank, Macquarie Bank, shed 5.7 per cent to 20.65, while insurer AXA Asia Pacific was 7.3 per cent lower at 3.43.

SINGAPORE: Down 2.11 per cent. The blue-chip Straits Times Index slid 34.41 points to 1,594.94, its first close below 1,600 points since September 2003.

United Overseas Bank dropped 32 cents to 10.20, DBS fell 19 cents to 7.96 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp closed 15 cents lower at 4.68.

Property firms were among the key losers. City Developments fell 22 cents to 4.95, CapitaLand shed nine cents to 2.04 and Keppel Land eased five cents to 1.31.

KUALA LUMPUR: Down 1.1 per cent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 9.88 points to 889.71.

Gamuda lost 3.1 per cent to 1.90 ringgit, Maybank slipped 5.4 per cent to 5.30 while Tenaga slid 3.2 per cent to 6.10.

JAKARTA: Down 2.0 per cent. The Jakarta Composite Index lost 26.75 points to 1,296.94.Telecommunications service provider Indosat fell 7.5 per cent to 4,375 rupiah.

Bank Central Asia dropped 4.9 per cent to 2,450 rupiah and Bank Rakyat slid 4.6 per cent to 4,300 on expectations of weak fourth-quarter earnings.

MUMBAI: Down 2.21 per cent. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index fell 199.42 points to 8,843.21 as foreign funds sold index heavyweights on the back of weak US index futures trends.

WELLINGTON: Down 1.54 per cent. The benchmark NZX-50 index dropped 40.25 points to 2,576.68.

The most out of favour stock was again PGG Wrightson, which fell a further 23 cents to 59 cents, having dropped from 2.99 dollars last August. A related company, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay, ended 16 cents down at 40 cents.—AFP