Taipei, Jakarta leads regional markets as Tokyo, HK end lower

Taipei, Jakarta leads regional markets as Tokyo, HK end lower

HONG KONG (AP): Asian stock markets closed mixed Thursday, with the region's two biggest, Tokyo and Hong Kong, closing lower but Taipei and Jakarta gaining more than 2 percent each.

In Jakarta, Indonesian shares ended higher Thursday on bargain hunting in cigarette and telecommunications blue chips in active trading, dealers said.

The JSX Composite index ended up 2.7%, or 15.128 points, to 585.180, though off its intraday high of 589.822 points, up 3.2 percent.

Gainers outnumbered decliners 88 to 36, with 79 stocks unchanged.

Dealers said a slightly firmer rupiah against the dollar and the decline in local interest rates helped stoke buying sentiment.

The Japanese market was dragged down by high-tech and Internet-related stocks, some of them taking double-digit beatings.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 104.47 points, or 0.53 percent, to 19,662.33. On Wednesday, the average had lost 0.9 percent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index finished with a loss of 314.40 points, or 1.8 percent, at 17,637.03. The Hang Seng had gained 0.5 percent on Wednesday to reach a record closing high of 17,951.43 - its third in a row.

South Korean shares also took a big hit as investors sold shares to settle a large amount of futures and options contracts, which expired on Thursday.

The Kospi index plunged 3.4 percent, or 31.35 points, to 884.59.

In Taipei, the Weighted Price Index closed up 197.78 points, or 2.1 percent, at 9,587.27.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian shares finished lower as investors remain cautious over the uncertain political developments. The Composite Index ended at 922.59 points, down 8.13 points, or 0.9 percent.

In Manila, the PSE index fell 12.84 points, or 0.8 percent, at a 16-month low of 1,626.95.

In Singapore, prices rose moderately, led by shares in large companies. The Straits Times Index rose 9.71 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,082.29.