HONG KONG, May 25: Asian markets were mixed on Friday as weak European data added to pessimism after this week’s disappointing summit on saving Greece from leaving the eurozone.
Positive leads from Wall Street and European markets were unable to provide a thrust as Asian indexes which in the past month have given up the gains made since the start of the year.
Tokyo closed up 0.20 per cent, or 17.01 points, to 8,580.39, Sydney eased 0.66 per cent, or 26.6 points, at 4,029.2, while Seoul was 0.53 per cent, or 9.7 points, higher at 1,824.17.
Hong Kong ended 0.25 per cent, or 47.01 points higher at 18,713.41 and Shanghai was down 0.74 per cent, or 17.42 points, at 2,333.55.
In other markets:
Taipei fell 53.26 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 7,071.63.
HTC shed 3.95 per cent to Tw$413.0 while TSMC was 0.74 per cent lower at Tw$80.0.
Manila rose 0.44 per cent, or 21.75 points, to 4,925.97.
Metropolitan Bank and Trust rose 0.95 per cent to 85.30 pesos and Universal Robina gained 1.98 per cent to 59.10 pesos but SM Investments fell 0.22 per cent to 668.50 pesos.
Wellington was down 0.28 per cent, or, 9.96 points, at 3,486.23.
Contact Energy was flat at HK$4.80, Fletcher Building gained 0.16 per cent to HK$6.17 and Telecom eased 0.78 per cent to HK$2.56.
Singapore closed 0.24 per cent, or 6.78 points, lower at 2,772.75 Singapore Telecom dropped 0.65 per cent to Sg$3.08 and DBS Bank fell 0.38 per cent to close at Sg$13.17.
Jakarta ended down 2.1 per cent, or 82.36 points, to 3,902.51.
Car maker Astra Inter-national declined 2.8 per cent to 65,850 rupiah, cement maker Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa fell 4.7 per cent to 17,200 rupiah, and telecommunications company Indosat fell 5 per cent to 4,250 rupiah.
Kuala Lumpur shares ended 0.19 per cent, or 2.87 points, higher at 1,551.12.
Axiata Group shed 0.2 per cent to 5.43 and Genting lost 0.4 per cent to 9.95 ringgit.
Bangkok edged up 0.63 per cent or 7.05 points to 1,132.83.
PTT dropped 1.92 per cent to 307.00 baht, while Siam Cement added 0.30 per cent to 332.00 baht.
Mumbai was flat, down 4.48 points or 0.03 per cent to 16,217.82.
India's private steel maker jindal Steel fell 2.59 per cent to 456.45 rupees while the country's largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki fell 2.46 per cent to 1,117.05.—AFP