Asian stocks fall

Asian stocks fell heavily on Thursday, following an overnight tumble on Wall Street driven by another spike in oil prices and new inflation worries.
Dealers said more glum news from the Federal Reserve about the US economy also fuelled the decline. Soaring food and fuel costs have set off global inflation concerns, with crude hovering near the 140 dollar per barrel level.
Oil fell in Asian trade despite the fact that US crude reserves dipped for the fourth straight week, but trade was volatile and analysts expected prices to keep rising in the near-term.
The price jumped more than five dollars in New York on Wednesday to above 135 dollars, spurring a US sell-off. The Dow Jones dropped 1.7 percent, the Nasdaq shed 2.2 percent and the S&P 500 lost 1.7 percent.
TOKYO: Japanese shares closed 2.08 percent down after Wall Street tumbled overnight as a fresh spike in crude oil prices hit sentiment, dealers said.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 294.88 points to 13,888.60, ending below the key 14,000 points level.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed down 1.3 percent, dealers said. The Hang Seng Index ended 303.74 points at 23,023.86 off a low of 22,695.10 and a high of 23,023.86.
SHANGHAI: Chinese stocks closed 2.21 percent lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, closed down 66.71 points at 2,957.53 on turnover of 56.8 billion yuan (8.2 billion dollars).
TAIPEI: Taiwan shares closed 3.4 percent lower, dealers said. The weighted index closed down 283.28 points at 8,062.31 on turnover of 124.86 billion Taiwan dollars (4.11 billion US).
SEOUL: South Korean share prices fell 2.4 percent. The KOSPI index ended down 42.31 points at 1,739.36, the weakest level since April 1 when it closed at 1,702.25.
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 0.87 percent lower. The blue chip STI closed 26.62 points lower at 3,020.15 on volume of 1.27 billion shares worth 1.56 billion Singapore dollars (1.14 billion US dollars).
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed down 0.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 3.74 points to 1225.54.
BANGKOK: Thai shares closed 0.11 percent lower. The Stock Exchange of Thailand composite index slipped 0.86 points to close at 790.80, while the blue-chip SET 50 index edged down 0.10 points to 566.04.
JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 1.4 percent higher. The Jakarta Composite Index ended up 34.22 points at 2,409.01 on volume of 3.46 billion shares worth 6.52 trillion rupiah (704.16 million dollars).
MANILA: Philippine share prices closed 1.3 percent lower.
The composite index lost 34.39 points to the day's low of 2,544.89. The all-shares index gave up 19.46 points to 1,619.62.
MUMBAI: Indian shares closed 0.43 percent up. The benchmark Mumbai 30-share Sensex index rose 64.88 points to 15,250.2.