HONG KONG, May 26: Asian shares tumbled on Monday as soaring oil prices fanned fears that inflation would slow economic growth, with Chinese stocks sliding over three per cent after another earthquake unsettled investors.

The Shanghai bourse fell 3.13 per cent after a strong aftershock in southwest China following May 12’s devastating Sichuan earthquake. Sunday’s aftershock toppled 70,000 houses and killed at least six people.

Elsewhere, Japanese shares closed down 2.3 per cent as investors took their cue from a US slide of about one per cent Friday, as concerns grew that high oil costs would hit consumer spending and cut corporate profit growth.

Hong Kong shed nearly 2.4 per cent, India slipped a little over 1.8 per cent, Taiwan ended almost 1.5 per cent lower, South Korea slid 1.5 per cent and Australia closed down more than one per cent.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices tumbled 2.30 per cent as investors fretted about recent losses on Wall Street and a spike in crude oil prices, dealers said.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index dropped 322.01 points to end at 13,690.19.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares gave up 32.51 points or 2.36 per cent to 1,344.18.

Volume dropped to 1.82 billion shares from 2.2 billion shares on Friday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed down 2.37 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng index closed down 586.76 points at 24,127.31. Turnover was 76.69 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.83 billion US).

Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Securities, said China Mobile pressured the key index.

Aside from “over-reaction” to telecoms industry restructuring news, the stock was also dragged down by futures-related activity, he said.

HSBC was down 0.68 per cent at 130.90, HKEx was down 1.98 per cent at 138.70 and China Life lost 3.8 per cent at 30.35.

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed down 1.1 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 61.0 points to close at 5,707.0 and the broader All Ordinaries shed 58.7 points to 5,807.5.

Some 1.7 billion shares worth about 5.01 billion dollars (4.8 billion US) were traded.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 0.60 per cent lower, dealers said.

The blue chip Straits Times Index dropped 18.85 points to 3,103.30 on volume of 1.20 billion shares worth 1.50 billion Singapore dollars (1.11 billion US).

Singapore’s manufacturing output declined 5.7 per cent in April.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed little changed Monday, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index edged down 1.41 points at 1,273.37.

The market was dampened by news of a new fuel subsidy scheme to be unveiled in two months, said Phuah Kwee Hock, an analyst at SJ Securities.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 1.9 per cent lower, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index closed down 46.23 points at 2,419.73.

The market should have factored in the latest fuel price hike but investors may fear that oil prices are hard to predict now, said Budi Budar, a fund manager at Samuel Securities.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.44 per cent, dealers said.

The NZX-50 gross index fell 15.72 points to 3,573.75.

Contact Energy rose 10 cents to $9.15. Air New Zealand rose one cent to $1.14 and Telecom closed up seven cents at 3.91.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed 1.81 per cent down, dealers said.

The benchmark Mumbai 30-share Sensex fell 301.14 points to 16,348.5.

Weak Asian markets and rising inflation concerns pushed equities lower. We could see a short bounce back in coming days, said Manoj Kakaiya, a dealer with ULJK Securities.—AFP