HONG KONG, May 21: Asian stocks closed mostly down on Wednesday with the Japanese market falling 1.65 percent after Wall Street took a beating in the wake of surging crude oil prices.

Japanese shares closed in the red as oil homed in on a fresh record high of 130 dollars per barrel, stoking concerns that rising inflation will hit consumer spending and crimp business profits.

Such concerns helped to push US shares down more than 1.5 per cent Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia on Wednesday, Australia and South Korea both closed down 1.4 per cent, Taiwan shed 0.59 per cent but Singapore pared losses to close flat.

Chinese state media has said the deadly quake is set to cut China’s 2008 economic growth by at least 0.2 percentage points.

Asian stocks have rallied sharply since mid-March, raising hopes that investors were becoming more sanguine about the global financial crisis and the problem of surging food and fuel costs.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed down 1.65 per cent after overnight losses on Wall Street where high oil prices and inflation worries hit sentiment, dealers said.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index dropped 233.79 points to end at 13,926.30.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares lost 29.75 points or 2.13 percent to 1,370.09.

Volume fell to 2.36 billion shares, from 2.42 billion shares on Tuesday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed up 1.16 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng index closed up 290.83 points, at 25,460.29. Turnover was 79.23 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.16 billion US dollars).

The market rebounded from morning losses following a strong close in Shanghai, said Marco Mak, research head at Tai Fook Securities.

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed 1.4 per cent lower, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 84.7 points to close at 5,823.4 and the broader All Ordinaries index shed 78.5 points to 5,916.4.

Turnover was 1.9 billion shares worth 5.9 billion dollars (5.7 billion US).

From the technical perspective, it hasn’t been a good day. Technical analysts had been talking of another leg up and then another downturn, senior dealer at CMC Markets Dominic Vaughan said.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed little changed, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 2.98 points to 3,196.90 on volume of 2.17 billion shares worth 1.9 billion Singapore dollars (1.4 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.5 per cent lower, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 6.23 points to 1,281.20.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 0.7 per cent lower, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index closed down 16.25 points at 2,494.71.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.97 per cent lower, dealers said.

The NZX-50 gross index fell 35.48 points to 3,611.72.

It’s just generally a market lacking any positive momentum, said ASB Securities broker Stephen Wright. “New Zealand’s got much the same problems (as the US) where consumer confidence is low, investor confidence is low.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed little changed, dealers said.

The benchmark Mumbai 30-share Sensex rose 12.98 points or 0.08 per cent to 17,243.16.

The markets could remain rangebound in coming weeks, as quarterly corporate earnings ahead could be impacted by rising commodity and input costs, said Naresh Garg at the Sahara Mutual fund.—AFP