Asian stocks mixed as worries remain

Asian stocks mixed as worries remain

Agencies, Jakarta

Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after a rebound on Wall Street failed to inspire all investors in the region.

Japanese stocks were higher, rebounding by 1.6 percent from seven days' of losses after Wall Street's recovery, with the gains supported by hopes of additional anti-deflationary measures, dealers said.

The gains were capped by concerns related to the approaching first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, however, as well as the closure of special quotation futures and options a week Sept. 13, AFP reported.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei 225 index rose 147.03 points to close at 9,222.12, off a high of 9,290.40 while the Topix index of all first section issues added 17.66 points to 904.05.

Keiji Numata, investment section manager at Toyo Securities, said a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun economic daily on additional anti-deflationary measures triggered buying, while the rebound on Wall Street helped to underpin sentiment.

"It seems like the government has finally changed its stance, becoming more wary of the current slump in the stockmarket," Numata said.

The Nihon Keizai reported, without citing sources, the government and ruling coalition had agreed to draw up new anti- deflation measures around Sept. 20 to help address the stockmarket downturn.

To calms fears over the health of the banking system, the Financial Services Agency was separately considering shelving a plan to impose a 10 million yen (US$85,100), limit on government guarantees on ordinary bank deposits currently scheduled to be imposed in April next year, the report said.

Meanwhile, U.S. stocks skidded in early morning trade on Thursday as anemic growth in the services sector added to nagging worries over the health of companies like retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and chip leader Intel Corp.

"It looks like the (ISM) non-manufacturing number," Kathy Carey, a trader with Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"There is no type of economic indicator that is just telling people to buy, and every time there is an uptick in the market, people just sell into it," she added.

The broad Standard & Poor's 500 fell 21 points, or 2.45 percent, to 871 after a late-day rally on Wednesday. The blue- chip Dow Jones industrials lost 198 points, or 2.36 percent, to 8,226. The tech-laced Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 36.8 points, or 2.85 percent, to 1,255.

The Institute for Supply Management said its August index of non-manufacturing activity fell to 50.9 in August versus 53.1 in July -- pointing to a seventh month of growth but landing below expectations. Economists had expected the index to come in at 53.6.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, sank $2.02, or almost 4 percent, to $50.31. The Dow component said sales at stores open at least a year rose 3.8 percent in August, below expectations.