HONG KONG, June 20: Asian stocks closed mostly down on Friday with India tumbling over three per cent after its inflation rate surged, but China rallied following a sudden government fuel price hike.

The Indian stock market slid 3.42 per cent as inflation raced to its highest level in 13 years, hitting more than 11 per cent in the wake of a fuel price hike and piling pressure on the government as general elections loom.

But Chinese shares jumped just over three per cent after the government hiked retail fuel prices as much as 18 per cent, with a rally in oil company shares helping to push up the Shanghai bourse.

Among smaller markets, Thailand rebounded more than 3.5 per cent. Shares there have been hit by political uncertainty.

Asian investors were also jittery Friday about the outlook for the US economy, which is battling a slowdown, and upcoming corporate earnings.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices ended 1.33 per cent lower as investors found little reason to buy following a subdued performance overnight on Wall Street, dealers said.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index dropped 188.09 points to end at 13,942.08.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares lost 18.86 points or 1.37 Per cent to 1,356.74.

The direction of crude oil prices is currently investors’ major concern, Masanaga Kono, strategist at Societe Generale Asset Management, told Dow Jones Newswires.Inpex Holdings fell 3.7 per cent to 1.29 million yen, Mitsubishi Corp. gave up 2.3 per cent to 3,460 yen and Itochu lost 2.4 per cent to 1,161 yen.

Sanyo slid 5.0 per cent to 266 yen and GS Yuasa slumped 7.8 per cent to 556 yen.

Tokyo Electron was down 1.8 per cent at 6,610 yen and Elpida Memory 2.7 per cent lower at 3,660 yen.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed down 0.23 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng Index closed down 52.01 points at 22,745.6. Turnover remained low at 72.69 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.32 billion US).

Buying interest remains weak due to the poor Chinese market and Chinese economic concerns, Castor Pang, a strategist at SHK Financial, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Sinopec ended up 1.1 per cent at 8.08 dollars. PetroChina rose 1.6 per cent to $10.46. Yanzhou Coal shed 7.5 per cent to $13.80.

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed down 1.5 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 78.3 points to 5,288.3 while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 72.5 points to 5,411.8.

Volume was 1.9 billion shares worth about 6.6 billion (US$6.3 billion).

We had seen some good gains from the miners early in the session on stronger gold and copper prices, but they have also slumped into the red, said CommSec market analyst Juliette Saly.

Westpac lost 45 cents to 20.63, Commonwealth Bank dropped 54 cents to 39.36, and National Australia Bank dipped 76 cents to 25.75. Investment bank Macquarie lost $2.15 to 46.60.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 0.31 per cent higher, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) rose 9.15 points to 3,001.81 on volume of 1.14 billion shares worth 1.34 billion Singapore dollars (986 million US).

The Fed would likely keep interest rates on hold in view of inflation fears, but a “measured hike in the Fed funds rate toward the year-end cannot be ruled out,” CIMB said.

Our view is that the STI could trade rangebound in the immediate term with upside capped at 3,068 max, with downside bias remaining at 2,915, said DBS Vickers.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp rose one cent to 8.22 Singapore dollars.

CapitaLand climbed 36 cents to 6.08. Singapore Airlines rose 10 cents to

14.92.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.9 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index added 10.28 points to 1,206.67.

There’s still a fair bit of nervousness in the market as investors are wary of more negative surprises, a dealer told Dow Jones Newswires.

Maybank added 0.7 per cent to close at 7.10 ringgit and Telekom was 3.2 per cent higher at 3.26 ringgit.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed little changed, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index fell 1.29 points to 2,371.77.

Selling in finance-related stocks kept the main index in negative territory despite a rebound in telecommunication stocks, a trader told Dow Jones Newswires.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed down 1.70 per cent, dealers said.

The NZX-50 gross index fell 56.68 points to close at 3,283.43 -- its lowest since it hit 3183.31 in December 2005.

Basically people appear to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater at the moment, said David Price of Forsyth Barr.

Telecom fell 12 cents to 3.73 dollars, Contact Energy dropped 17 cents to 8.15, and Fletcher Building slid 13 cents to a fresh three-year low of 6.41.

MUMBAI: Indian shares closed down 3.42 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark Mumbai 30-share Sensex index slid 516.7 points to 14,571.29.

Earlier, the Sensex had plunged 568.72 points to hit an intra-day low of 14,519.27 points, its lowest for the year.

Investors are clearly spooked by the inflation data. Overseas funds sell-offs and a further rate hike could push equities lower, said Atul Hatwar, a dealer at Crosseas Securities.—AFP