Asian investors wait for signs from Wall Street
Asian investors wait for signs from Wall Street
HONG KONG (AFP): Most Asian investors remained cautious yesterday over fears of a U.S. interest rates increase and possible further slides on Wall Street, with local news also affecting trading, brokers said.
Malaysian shares were down 2.4 percent from the previous close after the central bank moved to curb credit to cool asset inflation, while Jakarta shares lost 1.4 percent over rumors of President Soeharto's health.
Thai shares were down 1.5 percent over uncertain prospects for individual finance firms as authorities pressed for more mergers in the ailing sector.
Taipei investors bucked the downtrend yesterday, pushing the index up 2.0 percent, after the finance ministry announced plans to raise the ceiling for investments by local banking institutions in securities from 15 percent of their net asset value to 20 percent.
Tokyo was up 0.5 percent on international blue chips buying, and Sydney was up 0.2 percent.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei Stock Average of 225 leading issues rose 92.01 points to finish at 18,129.31, while the Topix index of all issues on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 5.10 points at 1,380.70.
In Hong Kong, share prices fell 0.7 percent in cautious trading yesterday amid concerns of the direction of U.S. interest rates, dealers said.
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index shed 81.15 points to finish at 12,055.17.
In Singapore, blue-chip share prices closed 0.6 percent lower yesterday amid investor jitters over the direction of Wall Street after U.S. stocks tumbled again overnight.
The Straits Times Industrials index of leading shares on the Stock Exchange of Singapore fell 11.73 points to 2,078.08. The broader All-Singapore index was down 7.61 points to 510.85.
In Sydney, shares closed 0.2 percent stronger yesterday as news of a proposed bank merger and hopes of a rebound on Wall Street combined to boost the bourse, brokers said.
The Australian Stock Exchange's key barometer, the all ordinaries index, rose 5.8 points to 2,361.0. The all resources index rose 4.5 points to 1,340. 2 and all industrials gained 7.8 points to finish at 3,689.3.
In Kuala Lumpur, the stock exchange's 100-share weighted composite index shed 28.56 points to 1,152.51. The lesser second board index dipped 17.68 points, or 2.8 percent, to 618.75.
In Taipei, the stock exchange weighted price index increased 163.68 points to 8,367.57.
In Bangkok, the broad-based Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index fell 10.63 points to 706.01 points, while the SET-50 index of selected counters closed 0.89 points lower at 52.68 points.
In Seoul, the composite index fell 0.12 points to 678.74.
In Manila, the stock exchange fell 57.44 points to 3,104.77.
In Wellington, at the close the New Zealand 40-share capital index was up 7.65 points at 2,225.91.
In Shanghai, the stock exchange's B share index rose 0.21 points to close at 73.27 points. The A share index of domestically-traded shares rose 12.99 points, or 1.0 percent, to 1,305.72.