HONG KONG, Aug 21: Asian stocks shrugged off a solid performance by Wall Street to close mostly lower on Monday with profit takers moving-in and cashing-up on recent gains.
Chinese-related markets were also punished after China raised interest rates late last Friday by 0.27 percentage points, fueling further fears that Beijing will do more to cool its booming economy.
Elsewhere Tokyo reflected the overall tone with a 0.85 per cent drop, Bangkok was down 0.43 per cent while Kuala Lumpur was flat ahead of a decision on Malaysian interest rates.
Sydney made a slight 0.20 per cent gain on improved expectations for upcoming profit results. Jakarta and Manila were closed for a public holiday.
TOKYO: Share prices closed down 0.85 per cent, slipping below the symbolic 16,000-point level, as market players took profits after rapid gains last week.
The Nikkei-225 index fell 136.94 points to close at 15,969.04. Volume fell to 1.51 billion shares from 1.87 billion Friday.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 1.86 per cent lower on worries that China might raise interest rates further following a 27 basis points increase last week and adopt more stringent measures to cool its economy.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed up 0.22 per cent on the release of solid earnings reports and expectations that other reports this week will be equally strong.
The SP/ASX 200 gained 11.1 points or 0.22 per cent to 5,063.6. A total of 1.05 billion shares worth 3.49 billion dollars (2.64 billion US) changed hands.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.65 per cent lower on concerns of further interest rates hike in China to rein in its red-hot economy.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed flat in thin trade on caution ahead of earnings results from big companies this week and a central bank interest rate decision on Friday.
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 1.28 per cent lower, after a fall in leading stock Telecom and poor earnings news from two other major companies.
The NZX-50 gross index fell 43.87 points to 3,424.39 on turnover worth 120.0 million New Zealand dollars (US$76.8m).
MUMBAI: Share prices closed slightly higher on a late round of fund buying in leading companies. The 30-share Sensex index rose 45.96 points or 0.40 per cent to 11,511.68.—AFP