HONG KONG, Oct 17: Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Monday, failing to follow Wall Street’s stronger lead, with local factors dominating trade in uninspired markets, dealers said.
Tokyo was slightly weaker amid fears the prime minister’s controversial visits to a war shrine could further inflame tensions with China while foreign investors continued to sell down Seoul and Mumbai.
Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong bucked the trend and closed higher after investors took heart from New York where better than expected inflation data underpinned Wall Street’s gains.
TOKYO: Share prices closed 0.15 per cent lower as investors feared the possible negative fallout from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visit to a war shrine in defiance of Chinese protests. The Nikkei-225 index lost 20.25 points to 13,400.29 on turnover of 2.68 billion shares.
Japan’s top steelmaker Nippon Steel closed down 11 yen at 392 yen with JFE Holdings shedding 70 yen to 3,510 yen. Top trading house Mitsubishi lost 55 yen to 2,110 yen and Mitsui slid 35 yen to 1,392.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.38 per cent higher led by selected blue chips on easing inflation and interest rate concerns.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 55.47 points at 14,541.35 on turnover of 16.03 billion Hong Kong dollars (2.05 billion US dollars).
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.44 per cent higher as investor sentiment rebounded from seven-week lows, buoyed by low core inflation data in the United States.
The market was also helped by the solid performance on Wall Street Friday after a report on US consumer prices helped ease fears about inflation.
National Australia Bank rose 0.31 to 32.23 dollars, Macquarie Bank shed 2.95 to 62.75. BHP Billiton added 0.07 to 20.05 while Rio Tinto gained 0.74 to 65.95.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.64 per cent lower after key non-oil exports unexpectedly fell in September.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.14 per cent lower in sluggish trade although the shipping sector made gains on an improved earnings outlook.
The composite index shed 1.32 points to 924.27 and volume was 389.56 million shares, worth 520.58 million ringgit (137.95 million dollars).
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.6 per cent lower in quiet trade, with banking stocks falling on renewed concerns that high interest rates will hurt earnings in the coming months.
Bank Central Asia dropped 25 rupiah to 3,350, Bank Mandiri dropped 30 to 1,380 while Bank Rakyat Indonesia lost 50 to close at 2,350.
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.21 per cent higher, following a strong final session on Wall Street at the end of last week.
James Smalley, client adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the local market had been encouraged by offshore trading.
“It is a reflection of some pretty good nights overseas on Friday. The Dow Jones was up about 70 points,” Smalley said.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed flat in volatile trade as investors sold leading companies on concern that overseas funds were cutting their exposure to emerging markets.
Investors are a bit worried as foreigners have been steadily selling since the start of the month, said a fund manager with a leading domestic brokerage.
There is a worry that the selling pattern could last for the next few weeks.—AFP