HONG KONG, April 4: Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Friday with Tokyo leading falls as investors locked-in profits and braced themselves for the release of key US economic data later in the day.
An uninspiring performance by Wall Street overnight left regional benchmarks bereft of solid leads and most in the markets turned their attention towards US jobs data for March and indications on how the US economy has fared.
A growing belief that the world’s largest economy might not be as weak as many had flagged led to gains across the region earlier in the week.
However, on the day caution prevailed and Tokyo shed 0.72 per cent which set the trend for Asia where Bangkok fell 0.23 per cent, Manila lost 1.7 per cent, Singapore was off 0.50 per centand Kuala Lumpur was down 0.3 per cent.
TOKYO: Japanese shares slipped from a one-month high as investors took profits after the market’s three-day rally, turning cautious ahead of key US jobs data.
The Nikkei-225 index fell 96.68 points to 13,293.22. Turnover fell to 1.84 billion shares from 2.07 billion shares on Thursday.
The local market took a pause as investors made adjustments after days of sharp gains, said Yoshinori Nagano, chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management.
Overnight on Wall Street shares chalked up modest gains after a report that troubled US investment bank Merrill Lynch has no need for fresh capital.
SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed up 0.2 per cent as resource stocks performed strongly.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 10.7 points at 5,619.6. Turnover was 2.2 billion shares worth 5.5 billion dollars (5.0 billion US).
We saw the market close higher every day this week, head of Asia-Pacific trading at CMC Markets James Foulsham said.
We have seen clients slowly moving back into the market over the past week with growing confidence that the worst is behind us — at least in the short term.
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 0.50 per cent lower as investors cashed in gains after three straight positive sessions.
The Straits Times Index closed down 15.99 points at 3,155.56 on volume of 1.34 billion shares worth 1.56 billion dollars (1.13 billion US).
Negative sentiment is still there but it has diminished slightly, said Ong Seng Yeow, research head at Kim Eng Securities unit Kelive.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.3 per cent lower due to a lacklustre performance on Wall Street overnight which pushed investors to the sidelines.
The composite index closed down 3.6 points at 1,221.98 on volume of 475.78 million shares worth 885.84 million ringgit (277 million US dollars).
JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 1.7 per cent higher on bargain-hunting after four days of sell-offs.
The composite index closed up 39.11 points at 2,277.09 on volume of 3.57 billion shares worth 6.5 trillion rupiah (704.84 million dollars).
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed little changed, consolidating after five sessions of strong gains.
The NZX-50 gross index rose 1.26 points to 3,631.23 on turnover worth 90.9 million dollars (71.1 million US).
Hamilton, Hindin, Greene director Grant Williamson said Friday’s performance capped a good performance for the local market.
MUMBAI: Indian share prices fell 3.09 per cent, dragged down by data showing inflation hit a three-year high of seven per centand raising fears of further tightening in monetary policy.—AFP
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