HONG KONG, Sept 1: Asian shares suffered heavy falls on Monday, including a slide of over four per cent in the South Korean stock market as the global economic slowdown rattled investors again.

The Seoul bourse fell 4.1 per cent as a tumble in the won spooked the share market by stoking fears of a capital flight. The South Korean government Monday unveiled tax cuts to boost the ailing economy.

Among other major markets, Taiwan fell 3.31 per cent, mainland China slipped three per cent and Japan fell 1.83 per cent.

The stock market in Hong Kong fell more than 1.5 per cent, while Australia and Singapore also ended in the red.

The slide in Asia came after Wall Street took a tumble Friday as weak economic data and a disappointing earnings report from computer giant Dell weighed on investor sentiment.

Investors were also cautious ahead of some key US economic data, including a monthly employment report due on Friday. Turnover was low with US markets closed on Monday for the Labour Day holiday.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed down 1.83 per cent, ending below the 13,000-point level as losses on Wall Street and a stronger yen depressed sentiment, dealers said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index fell 238.69 points to 12,834.18. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares declined 24.07 points or 1.92 per cent to 1,230.64.

Toyota Motor fell 2.2 per cent to 4,820 yen and Honda Motor lost 3.4 per cent to 3,460. Canon slid 2.6 per cent to 4,820 and Sony dropped 2.4 per cent to 4,140.

But Nintendo rose 3.7 per cent to 53,700 after the video game maker raised its earnings guidance for the full year to March 2009.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed down 1.67 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng index closed down 355.58 points at 20,906.31. Turnover was very low at 41.11 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.27 billion US).

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed down 0.3 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index lost 17.3 points to 5,118.3, while the broader All Ordinaries shed 15.5 points to 5,200. Turnover was 3.49 billion dollars (2.98 billion US).

Banks have outperformed, but volumes have been extremely light and you have the US on holiday tonight, Rod Ellis, senior institutional trader at CommSec, told Dow Jones Newswires.

SINGAPORE: Singapore shares closed 0.95 per cent lower, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) closed down 26.16 points at 2,713.79 on volume of 636 million shares worth 741 million dollars (520 million shares).

Singapore Airlines was four cents lower at 15.18 Singapore dollars, and Neptune Orient Lines dropped seven cents to 2.19.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed little changed, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index fell 1.32 points to 2,164.62.

Indonesia’s annual inflation rate rose to 11.85 per cent in August after month-on-month growth of 0.51 per cent.

Coal miner Bumi Resources fell 3.6 per cent to 5,300 rupiah and bellwether Telkom dropped 1.9pc to 7,850 on profit-taking.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.13 per cent higher, dealers said.

The benchmark NZX-50 index rose 4.46 points to 3,357.70.

Telecom closed down four cents at 3.23 dollars. Fletcher Building closed down 28 cents at 7.02. Contact Energy was unchanged at 8.36.

MUMBAI: Indian shares closed down 0.45 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark 30-share Sensex index fell 66.02 points to 14,498.51, off the day’s low of 14,281.1.

The markets were largely down but recovered from the day’s lows on bargain hunting in index stocks, said Hiten Mehta, fund manager with Fortune Financial Services.—AFP