Asian stocks fall on profit taking

Asian stocks fall on profit taking

HONG KONG (AFP): Asian stocks were lower in most of the region's markets following strong performances in the past week, although an imminent agreement between Thailand the International Monetary Fund boosted Thai shares.

The key Hang Seng Index fell 119.63 points to close at 16,259.59, ahead of an announcement that market leader HSBC Holdings Ltd. posted a better than expected 19 percent increase in first half earnings.

In Jakarta, share prices closed 0.4 percent lower Monday on a lack of direction from the currency market, with volumes thin amid slow trade in blue chips, dealers said.

"Fund managers are looking at safe stocks: Telkom, Indosat, the big blue-chip stocks that won't be rocked too much, that have less reason to be sold off," a dealer with a regional brokerage said.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index closed down 3.063 points at 718. 709.

In Tokyo, the Japanese share prices closed 0.7 percent lower Monday as foreign investors took profits on blue chips in the absence of buying interest, brokers said.

The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 leading issues dropped 136.31 points to finish at 19,668.07 while the Topix index of all issues on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 15.53 points at 1,497.26.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's key stock index fell 2.4 percent Monday as investors sold bluechips to raise ringgit after the central bank limited foreign access to the local currency.

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's 100-share weighted composite index tumbled 24.07 points below its psychological level of 1,000, to 978.56 points. The lesser second board index shed 13.69 points, or 2.5 percent, to 532.17.

In Sydney, the Australian Stock Exchange's all ordinaries index shed 21.5 points to close at 2706.0

In Singapore, blue-chip share prices closed 0.4 percent higher Monday but caution prevailed in the market ahead of the company results reporting season.

In Bangkok, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index was up 11.78 points at 663.82 points, while the SET-50 select index advanced 1.21 points to 50.43 points.

In Seoul, the composite index closed the session up 3.76 points at 734.19 on a volume of 25.8 million shares worth 395.1 billion won (441 million dollars).

In Shanghai, the exchange's B share index rose 0.59 points to close at 74.38 points while the A share index of domestically- traded shares rose 7.8 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 1,256.27 points.

In Auckland, the NZSE-40 capital index was down 15.58 to 2,558.78 with Telecom Corp. down nine cents to $7.71.