HONG KONG, March 5: Asian stocks closed mostly down on Wednesday over concerns about the US economy and after China’s premier pledged to curb his nation’s high economic growth as consumer prices surge.

Mainland Chinese stocks fell nearly one per cent as Premier Wen Jiabao said Wednesday inflation was now the top concern for China’s 1.3 billion people.

In an annual address to parliament, Wen said the government would look to slow growth to around eight per cent this year, from 11.4 per cent in 2007, and keep consumer prices from rising more than 4.8 per cent.

Elsewhere, the falls among the region’s other major stock markets were more limited. Japan, Asia’s biggest market, edged down 0.16 per cent.

Malaysia was the biggest faller among smaller bourses, tumbling more than 2.5 per cent ahead of general elections on Saturday.

But the relative stability in most markets was welcome relief for investors following much steeper slides earlier in the week over concerns about the ailing US economy, the world’s biggest, where recession looms.

US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and vice chairman Donald Kohn said recently the crisis in the US housing and finance sectors is not yet over.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed down 0.16 per cent to a six-week low after a volatile session on Wall Street and weak data on the domestic economy, dealers said.

They said investors remained cautious ahead of the release of key US economic data this week.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index dropped 20.22 points to 12,972.06, the lowest closing level since January 23.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares declined 1.75 points or 0.14 per cent to 1,263.91.

Decliners outpaced gainers 1,062 to 541, with 123 issues unchanged.

Turnover declined to 1.952 billion shares from 2.087 billion Tuesday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed little changed, dealers said.