Asian stocks close mostly down on US fears
HONG KONG, Dec 18: Asian stocks closed mostly down on Tuesday as concerns that inflation may stop the ailing US economy from cutting borrowing costs continued to sour investor sentiment.
Some of the major bourses recovered ground after sharp early losses but still ended down after an overnight slide on Wall Street.
Tokyo was down 0.27 per cent, Sydney slipped 0.4 per cent and Shanghai was 0.83 per cent lower. Taipei and Mumbai also fell.
Concerns about rising inflation in the US, which is battling a credit crunch that could lead to recession, continued to dominate investor thinking.
There are fears rising consumer prices could cut the scope for more US interest rate cuts.
TOKYO: Japanese share prices ended with modest losses after Wall Street suffered a fresh sell-off overnight on worries about the fallout from US subprime mortgage problems, dealers said.
They said investors are nervous that growing inflationary pressures will limit the scope for further US interest rate cuts to ease a housing slump and related credit crunch.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index dropped 41.93 points or 0.27 percent to 15,207.86.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed up 0.51 per cent as blue-chips drew bargain-hunters despite caution over the US economy and possible tightening measures in China, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed up 136.29 points at 26,732.87. Turnover was 103.43 billion Hong Kong dollars (13.26 billion US).
SYDNEY: Australian share prices recovered from sharp early losses to close down 0.4 per cent as bargain hunters snapped up stocks oversold in the past two days, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 plunged two percent shortly after the trading session opened but came back to close down 26.6 points at 6,236.9.
The broader All Ordinaries closed down 39.2 points or 0.6 percent at 6,292.6.
The market is very fragile at the moment, said Michael Heffernan, senior client advisor at Austock Securities.
Market volume was 2.31 billion shares worth 7.6 billion Australian dollars (6.54 billion US).
Centro, the second-largest owner of shopping centres in Australia, fell 55.5 cents or 40.8 percent to 80.5 cents.
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 0.45 per cent higher as bargain hunting helped the key index recover from early losses, dealers said.
The main Straits Times Index closed up 15.75 points at 3,369.31.
“Volumes in the market are very thin so any slight negative or positive news can make a big swing,” said Gabriel Yap, dealing director at DMG & Partners Securities.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shares prices closed down 0.4 percent amid concerns about a possible US economic slowdown amid rising inflation, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 6.16 points at 1,385.45 on volume of 780 million shares valued at 1.6 billion ringgit (478 million dollars).
JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 0.7 per cent lower in volatile trade, dealers said.
The Jakarta composite index closed down 18.69 points at 2,646.23.
“Sentiment was weak as there was no strong positive news that could boost share prices,” Mega Capital analyst Debby Handojo said.
MUMBAI: Indian share prices fell 0.94 per cent, led by weak Asian trends on persistent concerns of rising inflation and an economic slowdown in the United States, dealers said.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex fell 181.71 points to 19,079.64, its fourth straight day of losses.—AFP