Shares close mixed in Asia-Pacific
Shares close mixed in Asia-Pacific
TOKYO (AFP): Japanese share prices closed 0.4 percent lower on profit taking yesterday while other Asia-Pacific markets were mixed, brokers said.
The leading barometer of the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 79.15 points to finish the session at 18,990.92 while the broader Topix index of all shares on the first section closed 9.17 points lower at 1,416.20.
In Jakarta, share prices closed 1.6 percent higher Wednesday on buying by foreign investors, dealers said.
A dealer with a Hong Kong brokerage said he believed foreign investors' confidence had improved despite the approaching general elections.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index rose 11.30 points to 712.61.
In Hong Kong, stocks closed 0.2 percent higher after profit- taking reduced early sharp gains, dealers said.
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index rose 21.57 points to 13,541.83.
In Sydney, the Australian Stock Exchange's key barometer, the all ordinaries index, fell 17.7 points to 2,483.1.
In Kuala Lumpur, the 100-share weighted composite index fell 6.2 points to 1,265.37, after reaching an intra-day high of 1,278.94. The lesser second board index shed 3.89 points, or 0.6 percent, to 640.03.
In Singapore, the blue-chip barometer, Straits Times Industrials index, rose 14.10 points to 2,216.07 while the broader All-Singapore index gained 1.86 points to 561.36.
In Bangkok, the broad-based Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index was up 0.07 points at 739.82 points, while the selected SET 50 index advanced 0.05 point to 54. 78 points.
In Shanghai, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's B share index rose 0.44 points to close at 66.73 points. The A share index of domestically-traded shares rose 14.37 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,078.20.
In Taipei, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index fell 156.87 points to 7,730. 49.
In Seoul, the composite index slid 3.10 points to finish at 679.71.
In Manila, the Philippine Stock Exchange composite index fell 13.26 points to close at 3,349.82 points.
In Wellington, the New Zealand Stock Exchange-40 capital index fell 10.34 points to 2,290. 14.
In New York, stocks rallied late Tuesday in a carbon copy of the previous day's performance, but the market still had a cautious tone ahead of Wednesday's Congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed, Tuesday, up 29.63 points at 7,037.83, which was within flirting distance of its record close of 7,067.46 set one week ago. On Monday, the index soared 77 points.
In the broader market, advancing issues led declines by a small margin on active volume of 529 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
In London, share prices here rose slightly early yesterday on publication of figures showing an unexpected fall in Britain's trade deficit, outweighing caution before a speech by Greenspan's speech.
In early trading, the FT-SE 100 index of leading shares was showing a gain of 3.2 points at 4,347.9. In Paris, the CAC-40 index of leading shares opened 1.42 points lower at 2, 606.30.
Britain's global trade deficit contracted to 845 million pounds ($1.38 billion) in December from a revised figure of 1.037 billion pounds in November, official figures showed on Wednesday.