HONG KONG, Dec 14: Asian stocks traded mostly lower on Friday as investors continued to fret over the state of the US economy and any further fallout from a global credit squeeze.
Fears persisted that the United States Federal Reserve was not doing enough to prevent the US economy from slipping into recession.
An international central bank plan to pump billions of dollars into the global banking system also continued to be poorly received by investors.
Tokyo was down 0.14 per cent, Taipei shed 0.85 per cent, Singapore was off 0.37 per cent, Sydney lost 1.6 per cent and Wellington was down 0.18 per cent.
TOKYO: Japanese share prices retreated on worries about a drop in domestic business confidence and an uncertain outlook for the US economy.
The Nikkei-225 index closed down 22.01 points at 15,514.51. Volume traded rose 2.82 billion shares from 2.16 billion Thursday.
Jitters about the US subprime mortgage crisis continued to weigh on sentiment, dealers said.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed 0.7 per cent lower on mounting worries over the global credit crisis and fears of another interest rate increase from China later in the day.
In the latest subprime revelation, US bank Citigroup Inc said it plans to assume control of the seven structured investment vehicles to help them repay their debts.
The Hang Seng Index closed down 180.81 points at 27,563.64. Turnover stayed weak at 111.78 billion Hong Kong dollars (14.3 billion US).
SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed down 1.6 per cent amid weakness in the resources sector due to falls in base metal prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 105.9 points at 6,491.7. Market volume was 1.65 billion shares worth 6.4 billion Australian dollars (5.7 billion US dollars).
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 0.37 per cent lower , following declines in regional bourses with investors worried over the fate of the US economy.
The Straits Times Index fell 12.93 points to close at 3,466.38 on volume of 2.07 billion shares worth 1.93 billion Singapore dollars (1.34 billion US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed down 0.5 per cent amid concerns over rising political tensions in the country and a shaky outlook on Wall Street.
JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 0.6 per cent lower as investors cashed in ahead of next week’s shortened trading week, with losses in regional markets spurring the sell-off.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed slightly firmer on a lack of corporate news, despite falls around the region and a volatile session on Wall Street.
The NZX-50 benchmark index, which this week fell below 4,000 for the first time since late August, closed up 7.3 points at 4,008.70, on turnover worth 120.7 million dollars (94.5 million US).
MUMBAI: Indian share prices fell 0.37 per cent in choppy and rangebound trade in line with a weakening of Asian markets amid general concern about the outlook for the US economy.
—AFP
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