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HONG KONG, Feb 12: Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Monday after fresh fears arose over the outlook for US interest rates which resulted in falls on Wall Street at the end of last week.
Sentiment, in New York and in the Asia Pacific, weakened after comments from three senior Federal Reserve officials, with each warning about the possibility of interest rate increases to keep inflation in check.
This provided many investors with an excuse to book profits ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year holidays which begin towards the end of this week.
With Tokyo closed for a public holiday, Singapore slumped 1.57 per cent, Taipei was down 1.06 per cent while Seoul shed 0.94 per cent and Kuala Lumpur was off 0.73 per cent.
Losses elsewhere were less severe with Hong Kong down 0.41 per cent, Manila fell 0.36 per cent, Jakarta eased 0.34 per cent and Wellington was 0.22 per cent lower. Sydney closed flat.
However, bargain hunters supported a 2.81 per cent gain in Shanghai and Bangkok was up 0.31 per cent on buying in banks and energy stocks.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.41 per cent lower led by China Mobile on concerns that Vodafone may sell its small stake in the mainland telecom operator to help fund its 11.1 billion dollar purchase of Hutchison Telecom's Indian assets.
The Hang Seng Index closed down 84.25 points at 20,593.41. Turnover was 46.29 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.9 billion US).
China Mobile was down 1.20 at 75.20 and HSBC fell 0.30 to 139.90.
Hutchison Whampoa ended down on profit-taking after early gains following news of its deal to sell its Indian telecom assets to Vodafone.
China Mobile was down 1.0 at 75.40.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed flat as profit-taking took the market off record levels made on central bank comments that were read to mean that further interest rate hikes are now very unlikely.
Dealers said Monday's early sell-off was unlikely to continue for the rest of the week given the positive underlying sentiment and strong earnings season underway.
The key S and P/ASX 200 slipped 3.1 points at 5,924.1. Volumes were below average with 1.55 billion shares worth 4.71 billion dollars (3.65 billion US) changing hands.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed sharply lower, led by selling in large caps as investors cashed in gains after Wall Street's slide on Friday.
Market players expect the government to declare at least a one percentage point cut in corporate tax while announcing a reduction in foreign workers' levies and other pro-business incentives.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.73 per cent lower as investors trimmed their positions in anticipation of a slowdown before the Chinese New Year holidays.
The composite index was down 9.00 points to 1,231.87 on volume of 1.54 billion shares worth 2.33 billion ringgit (665.7 million dollars).
Profit-taking has been expected and is not unusual after the strong gains in the last one week or so. It is difficult for investors not to be tempted to lock in gains. This is what we are seeing today, MIMB Investment Bank's head of research Pong Teng Siew said.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.34 per cent lower for a third successive trading day amid a lack of fresh positive cues, with index heavyweight Telkom leading the fall.
The composite index closed down 5.855 points at 1,734.462 on volume of 2.38 billion shares worth 2.2 trillion rupiah (243 million dollars).
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.22 per cent lower in mixed trading as investors took a breather part way through a busy profit reporting season.
The NZX-50 index was down 9.32 points at 4,179.57 on light turnover worth 82.65 million New Zealand dollars (56.15 million US).
Market leader Telecom was down a cent at 4.90 dollars as investors wait for news on the sale of its directories business. It has already reported a mixed profit.
MUMBAI: Share prices fell 2.39 per cent, with weak regional markets trends, higher inflation and multi-billion dollar acquisitions weighing on market sentiment.
Dealers said telecom, metal and capital goods stocks were sold heavily.
The 30-share Sensex fell as much as 392.68 points or 2.7 per cent to a day's low of 14,146.22 before recovering marginally to close down 348.2 points to 14,190.7.
India's largest aluminium company Hindalco, which announced Sunday it was buying the US-based firm Novelis for six billion dollars, fell 13.7 per cent or 23.8 rupees to 149.45 rupees.—AFP
