HONG KONG, Oct 12: Asian stocks closed lower across the region with benchmarks tumbling off record highs on Friday, following overnight falls on Wall Street and fears of a major correction.

Underpinning trade were consistent warnings that markets have gone too far too fast over recent weeks, as concerns over a possible credit squeeze in the US due to problems in subprime mortgages continued to recede.

This prompted profit taking in New York after the Dow Jones struck another record high

and markets in the Asia Pacific followed suit with Taipei

slumping 2.07 per cent, Seoul shed 1.67 per cent and Tokyo was off 0.73 per cent.

Hong Kong fell 1.01 per cent and Shanghai’s latest run of historic highs came to an end with a 0.17 per cent fall. Singapore was off 0.45 per cent, Sydney fell 0.3 per cent, Kuala Lumpur shed 0.6 per cent and Bangkok was down 0.23 per cent.

Mumbai was down 2.1 per cent. Only Wellington bucked the trend with 0.21 per cent rise on support for electricity generators. Jakarta and Manila were closed for religious holidays.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed down 0.73 per cent as investors pocketed gains a day after the market hit the highest level for over two months.

The Nikkei-225 index lost 127.81 points to 17,331.17. Turnover fell to 1.92 billion shares from 2.08 billion on Thursday.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed down 1.01 per cent, as investors locked in profits amid speculation that China might announce new measures to cool its economy.

The Hang Seng Index closed down 294.65 points at 28,838.37. Turnover was the second-largest ever, at 195.28 billion Hong Kong dollars (25.17 billion US).

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed down 0.3 per cent as investors locked in gains after a four-day winning streak which propelled the key market indices to record highs.

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.48 per cent lower on profit-taking after the benchmark index reached a new all-time high a day earlier.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.6 per cent lower on profit-taking ahead of an extended weekend and amid regional weakness following Wall Street’s overnight retreat.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.21 per cent higher with electricity generation firms in the spotlight in otherwise subdued trade.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices fell 2.1 per cent, snapping three days of gains as investors locked in profits amid weak Asian and overnight US markets.—AFP