Asian stocks close mostly down
HONG KONG, March 14: Asian stocks closed mostly down on Friday due to concerns about the US economy, a sliding greenback, near record high oil prices and the debilitating global credit crunch.
Japan, the region’s biggest bourse, slipped 1.54 per cent as fears grew that the yen’s strength against the ailing greenback would hit the country’s export performance.
The dollar briefly slipped below the 100 yen level for the second consecutive day Friday, approaching fresh 12-year lows.
Elsewhere, South Korea fell one per cent, while Hong Kong, China and Taiwan also ended down.
But Australia closed Friday up nearly 1.5 per cent , with sentiment helped in part by a near one-billion-US-dollar hostile takeover bid for iron ore miner Midwest Corp. by China’s state-owned Sinosteel Corp.
TOKYO: Japanese shares closed down 1.54 per cent at the lowest level for two years and seven months on worries about a stronger yen and the weakness of the US economy, dealers said.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 index dropped 191.84 points to 12,241.60, the lowest closing level since August 10, 2005. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares ended down 22.64 points or 1.86 per cent at 1,193.23.
Decliners outnumbered gainers 1,394 to 238, with 85 issues unchanged.
Turnover rose to 3.15 billion shares from 2.10 billion shares Thursday. The rise in trading volume was due to the special quotation for the settlement of futures and options contracts, dealers said.
After tumbling 3.3 per cent on Thursday, the Nikkei opened higher.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed 0.29 per cent lower, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed down 64.53 points at 22,237.11. Turnover was 88.28 billion Hong Kong dollars (11.34 billion US).
For the week the Hang Seng is down 264.22 points or 1.17 per cent, while for the year to date it is down 5,575.54 points or 20 per cent.
SYDNEY: Australian shares closed 1.4 per cent higher, dealers said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed up 71 points at 5,206.9, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 72.8 points to 5,288.5.
Volume traded was 1.3 billion shares worth 5.0 billion dollars (4.7 billion US).
The resources sector is holding up the market on the back of stronger commodity prices, said Dominic Vaughan, a senior dealer at CMC Markets.
SINGAPORE: Singapore shares closed 1.20 per cent higher Friday, dealers said.
The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 33.46 points to close at 2,839.01 on volume of 1.34 billion shares worth 1.33 billion Singapore dollars (972 million US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.5 per cent lower, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 6.51 points to 1,194.84.
The market was flat today, with lots of profit-taking, said Lee Cheng Hooi, an analyst at MIMB Investment bank.
JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 2.3 per cent lower, dealers said.The Jakarta Composite Index finished down 57.17 points at 2,383.42.
Astra International slumped 1,450 rupiah to 22,100. Telkom eased 50 rupiah to 9,200. Bumi Resources ended the session down 100 at 5,900.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices tumbled to close down 2.04 per cent, dealers said.
The benchmark NZX-50 gross index dropped 73.00 points to 3,500.91.
Our market, after outperforming the international markets yesterday going into positive territory while everyone else was negative we’ve done the opposite today, said Hamilton Hindin Greene partner Grant Williamson.—AFP