Asian stocks down
Asian shares eased for a second successive day Wednesday as general weakness on Wall Street pushed investors towards further selling.
Tokyo ended down 1.35 percent as investors refrained from buying as the yen strengthened against the dollar, hitting exporters, following the latest batch of downbeat US data.
Chinese shares lost 1.08 percent by midday, with the Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, down 32.51 points to 2,988.95.
There were also heavy losses in Sydney and Hong Kong.
China's shares were also hit by renewed concerns that the start of trade this week on the Nasdaq-style ChiNext board will have a negative impact on liquidity, dealers said.
South Korean shares closed 2.41 percent lower as concerns the speed of growth was easing at home combined with the poor US consumer figures. The benchmark KOSPI lost 39.82 points at 1,609.71.
Hong Kong shares ended the morning 1.66 percent lower, and below the key 22,000 mark, weighed by property stocks on concerns the government may introduce further measures to cool the booming real estate market.
And Singapore was down 33.08 points, or 1.2 percent, at 2,661.42 in early afternoon trade, tracking weakness in the major regional markets.
Philippine share prices closed 0.94 percent lower, with dealers attributing the decline to a dearth of market-moving news.
The composite index dropped 27.53 points to 2,908.21, while the all shares index slid 0.7 percent or 12.77 points to 1,833.94.
Australian share prices shed 1.44 percent and the Taiwan stock market finished 1.61 percent lower. New Zealand shares bucked the trend to rise 0.32 percent.
Comments