Most Asia-Pacific stock prices end lower

Most Asia-Pacific stock prices end lower

TOKYO (AFP): Most Asia-Pacific stock markets ended lower yesterday as investors locked in profits on recent gains and waited for fresh leads to emerge.

Jakarta's bourse was the star performer of the day, putting on 4.4 percent amid heavy trade in leading counters.

U.S. special envoy Walter Mondale held talks in Jakarta with President Soeharto to press for full implementation of economic reforms promised by Indonesia to foreign creditors.

He warned against "quick fixes" as Jakarta continued to toy with the idea of a currency peg, but dealers in the Indonesian capital said such warnings had been anticipated by the markets and had no effect.

And in Kuala Lumpur, Japanese vice finance minister Eisuke Sakakibara pledged that Japan would step up its economic presence in Asia and said the region was on the track to recovery.

"We will be involved more deeply now. We have done so in the past but our presence was somewhat lower," he said. "We intend to increase our presence and co-operate very closely with countries in the region."

"We are firmly on the recovery track. The situation in Malaysia and Thailand is improving, Korea has turned around. Recovery is in sight. We are about to overcome the crisis in the region," he said.

"We need to stabilize this situation and make the recovery solid."

The Nikkei stock average of 225 selected issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed down 96.01 points at 17,168.33.

The Topix index of all first-section issues fell 0.87 points to 1,296.10, with an estimated 600 million shares changing hands on the major board against 635.5 million on Monday.

In Hong Kong, share prices closed 0.9 percent higher Tuesday and off morning lows in range-bound trading as investors consolidated positions, dealers said.

The key Hang Seng index gained 106.62 points to close at 11,425.46, just off a high of 11,447.59 and well above the low of 11,258.86, on turnover of HK$7. 54 billion (US$874 million).

In Singapore, benchmark stock index closed 1.1 percent lower as investors took profits on Malaysia-based shares in line with sentiment in the Kuala Lumpur market.

"So far (Singapore corporate) earnings have not been great. So people are just waiting for more negative news before they do anything," a senior dealer with a local bank said.

The Straits Times Industrials index ended 17.76 points lower at 1,592.88. The more broadly-based All-Singapore index ended 6.59 points lower at 421.52.

In Sydney, the Australian Stock Exchange's main indicator, the All Ordinaries index, fell 13.5 points to 2,684.4.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's key stock index closed 1.6 percent lower on renewed concerns over the health of the domestic financial sector, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's 100-share weighted composite index fell 12.09 points to end at 733.03.

In Bangkok, Thai shares ended 0.3 percent firmer after recovering from earlier drops amid a raft of poor corporate results, dealers said.

Analysts said the market was flooded with results from the banking and industrial sectors, most showing drastic forex losses and earnings slumps as a result of the country's economic crisis in the past eight months.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index closed 1.55 points higher at 539.72. The SET 50 select index ended 0.35 points up at 40.67.

In Manila, Philippine share prices closed 1.0 percent lower as investors locked in profits on recent gains, analysts said. The market is "on profit taking mode," said Ted Valte of A and A Securities Inc.

The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index shed 21.706 points to close at 2,258.86 points.

In Seoul, share prices reversed early gains and closed 0.6 percent down on the Korea Stock Exchange as institutional investors took profits towards the close, dealers said.

The composite index closed down 3.46 points at 570.89, off a low of 567.55 and a high of 591.70.

In Taipei, Taiwan stocks dipped 0.7 percent as cautious investors took to the sidelines ahead of corporate results to be released this week, brokers said.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index dropped 65.26 points to 9, 211.83.

In Shanghai, the B share index lost 1.30 points to close at 57.77 points while the A share index of locally-traded stocks ended up 15.10 points, or 1.2 percent, at 1,265.98 points.

In Auckland, New Zealand stocks climbed 0.5 percent Tuesday on light turnover of NZ$55.6 million (US$32.3 million).

The NZSE-40 rose 10.69 points to 2,299.09 with Brierley Investments Ltd lifting one cent to 1.15 dollars.