HONG KONG, Sept 26: Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Tuesday with profit takers cashing-up in late trade on early gains made on the back of an improved overnight performance by Wall Street.
They said doubts over prospects for a slowing US economy had returned to haunt the markets in later trade with many investors taking to the wings ahead of key data due out of there later in the week.
Sydney, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur continued the recent trend of closing little changed while Tokyo eased 0.49 per cent as caution dominated ahead of new premier Shinzo Abe announcing his cabinet line-up.
Hong Kong slumped 1.36 per cent with sentiment dampened by the sacking of Shanghai's communist party secretary Chen Liangyu amid a pension fund scandal while Shanghai fell 0.55 per cent.
TOKYO: Share prices slipped to a seven-week low as investors took a cautious stance ahead of the naming of a new cabinet by incoming premier Shinzo Abe.
The Nikkei-225 index lost 76.36 points or 0.49 per cent to 15,557.45, the weakest close since August 8. Volume was 1.25 billion shares, down from 1.55 billion on Monday.
Many investors chose to sit on their hands ahead of the naming of the new cabinet.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 1.36 per cent lower as recent big gainers such as China Mobile and mainland financial firms saw heavy profit-taking in late trade.
Dealers said blue chips were hit by futures-related trade ahead of the expiry of September futures, while China stocks were punished by the sacking of Shanghai's communist party secretary Chen Liangyu amid a pension fund scandal.
The Hang Seng Index closed down 237.96 points at 17,308.08. Turnover was 34.74 billion Hong Kong dollars (US $4.4 billion).
SYDNEY: Share prices closed little changed as a positive lead from Wall Street offset further falls in the resources sector.
Dealers said the resources stocks continued under pressure amid contradictory views about the extent of any slowdown in the US, with some expecting a modest soft-landing and others fearing the worst as the US housing market falters.
The SP/ASX 200 added 3.3 points at 4,989.6. Turnover was 1.16 billion shares worth 4.28 billion dollars (3.21 billion US).
Following overnight losses in their London-listed shares due to uncertainty over the direction of metal prices, BHP Billiton lost 0.35 dollars or 1.42 per cent to 24.25 dollars while Rio Tinto dropped 0.80 or 1.19 per cent to 66.25.
Eleven of our top 100 companies are under takeovers at the moment and I think there's another 10 or so mooted to be targets, he said.
If 25 per cent of the ones mooted go (through) then we will have $50 billion of takeover cash coming into our market over the next six months, he added.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed flat with the broad market under pressure after falls in regional bourses and weaker-than-expected August manufacturing data.
The Straits Times index closed up 2.11 points at 2,526.00 on volume of 1.21 billion shares worth 931.72 million Singapore dollars (590 million US).
The index ended the morning 13.85 points higher but gave up most of the gains in the afternoon.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed flat as investors kept to the sidelines ahead of the central bank's decision on interest rates, to be announced after the market close.
The composite index was up 0.22 points at 965.66 on turnover of 389.77 million shares worth 626 million ringgit (179 million dollars).
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.44 per cent lower on profit-taking, led by select banking stocks as weakness in some regional bourses weighed on market sentiment.
The composite index closed down 6.651 points at 1,500.105. Volume was 1.30 billion shares valued at 1.39 trillion rupiah (151.33 million dollars).
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.54 per cent higher after sharp gains in market leader Telecom.
The NZX-50 gross index rose 18.82 points to 3,515.74 on turnover worth 140.8 million dollars (94.2 million US).
Telecom rose 11 cents to 4.36 dollars after the company unveiled its new high-speed Internet plans.
Energy retailer and generator Contact Energy rose six cents to 6.94 dollars after the company said it plans to raise electricity prices in some of its markets in New Zealand.
Casino company Sky City fell seven cents to 5.19 dollars after a recent string of gains on speculation Australia's Tabcorp could make a takeover bid.
—AFP