Share prices down in Asia, up in Europe

TOKYO (AFP): Share prices fell back on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday on profit-taking pressure following four consecutive days of advance.

The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues in the first section closed 44.11 points or 0.2 percent lower at 21,009.00. The index ended 79.52 points higher the previous day for the fourth straight session advance.

The broader-based Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues in the major section, which gained 11.08 points Wednesday, lost 3.92 points to 1,689.66.

In Hong Kong, stock prices tumbled 3.05 percent on strong selling pressure with the key Hang Seng Index losing 289.73 points to close at 9,222.34.

In Taipei, following the previous session's 69.89-point gain, the 374-issue weighted price index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange declined 4.83 points or 0.08 percent to settle at 5,956.62 points.

In Singapore, the blue-chip Straits Times Industrials index lost 15.50 points to close provisionally at 2,252.38

In Bangkok, profit-taking pushed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index down 9.43 points or 0.69 percent to a close of 1,358.92, brokers said.

In Sydney, the key market barometer, the all ordinaries index, closed at 2,077.0 points, down one percent or 20.2 points on Wednesday's finish.

By mid morning in London, the FT-SE 100 index of leading shares had risen by 11.1 points to 2,943 for an increase of 0.4 percent, while gilts rose by half a point.

In Paris, the CAC 40 index rose 0.61 percent to 1,991.80 points.

The price of shares in the EuroDisney amusement park near Paris rose initially by 33 pence to 383 pence in early trading in response to investment support from Saudi Arabia, but later showed an advance of only 18 at 368.

In New York, a late buying surge lifted blue-chip stocks out of a slump Wednesday as interest rates reversed course and headed downward, calming fears of resurgent inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.46 points to close at 3,760.83.