HONG KONG, Feb 15: Asian shares closed mostly down on Friday after gloomy comments about the US economy from the head of its central bank, but some key bourses still managed to rise over the week.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that he saw “a period of sluggish growth” ahead for the US and his comments hung over Asian stocks.
Australian and Chinese shares both fell more than one per cent and the South Korean market edged lower after a sharp fall on Wall Street on Thursday hit investor sentiment.
But Japan closed little changed, still buoyed by surprisingly strong economic growth figures, while Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore all rose.
Japan also posted a rise of over 4.5 per cent for the trading week. Hong Kong and Taiwan were up more than 2.5 per cent over the same period.
TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed almost unchanged, recovering early losses despite persistent worries about the outlook for the US economy, dealers said.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed down 3.89 points or 0.03 per cent at 13,622.56, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares edged up 2.45 points or 0.18 per cent to 1,334.89.
The Nikkei rose by 4.65 per cent over the past week.
Advantest fell 1.3 per cent to 2,325. Tokyo Electron was down 1.9 per cent at 6,770.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed up 0.5 per cent, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed up 126.75 points at 24,148.43. Turnover was 82.97 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.64 billion US). For the week, the index was up 678.97 points or 2.89 per cent.
Bank of East Asia’s 2007 earnings were within market expectations.
HKEx was down $0.80 at 164.70, PetroChina was up $0.18 at 11.90, China Life rose $0.65 to 30.75 and China Mobile was up $0.50 at 120.50. HSBC was down 1.2 per cent to 114.8.
SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed down 1.4 per cent, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 78.2 points at 5,606.6, while the broader All Ordinaries finished 68.4 points lower at 5,679.8.
Volume traded was 1.3 billion shares worth 6.1 billion dollars (US$5.5 billion).
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed up 1.41 per cent, dealer said.
The blue chip Straits Times index rose 43.09 points to 3,088.68 on volume of 1.88 billion shares worth 1.94 billion Singapore dollars (1.38 billion US).
DBS raised provisions on subprime-related investments to 90 per cent. It gained 60 cents to $17.90.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices fell 0.6 per cent, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite index ended down 8.91 points at 1,427.19.
A total of 592 million shares were traded, valued at 1.5 billion ringgit ($464 million).Malaysia is to hold elections in early March. The bourse has not rallied even though the date had been fixed because of US market weakness, said Wee Kim Hong of MA Securities.
JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 0.5 per cent higher, dealers said.
The Jakarta Composite index closed up 12.55 points at 2,688.19.
The economy expanded 6.32 per cent, official data showed, the fastest since the Asian financial crisis 11 years ago.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed down 1.13 per cent, dealers said.
The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 39.60 points at 3,510.81 on turnover worth $94.51 million (73.66 million US).
MUMBAI: Indian share prices rose 1.96 per cent, dealers said.
The 30-share benchmark Sensex index rose 348.62 points to 18,115.25.
We are seeing buying emerge at lower levels after a corrective phase in previous weeks, said R.Balakrishnan of Centrum Broking.—AFP
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.