Asian equities slip lower; Chinese shares buck the trend

09 Jan 2012 Evaluate

Majority of equity indices in Asia traded on a somber note as investors at large chose to square off positions amid a lot of uncertainties surrounding the European region. Marketmen lacked conviction to take bets ahead of the meeting of German Chancellor and French President later in the day which will be followed by a round of talks among euro-area leaders before the next European summit in Brussels. Sentiments also got little support from the over the weekend US markets which closed on a mixed note.  Market participants even overlooked a slew of encouraging US economic reports which underscored the fact that the world’s largest economy is gradually picking up pace.

The benchmark in South Korea remained the top laggard in the space as it traded with large cuts of one and a quarter percent in the session on lingering Euro-zone woes. However, Chinese shares managed to buck the somber trend prevailing in most markets in the region and surged around one and half a percent on reports that lending and money supply growth exceeded the estimates in the country. Also Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao opined that Beijing will bolster confidence in the stock market, but gave no details.

Hang Seng plunged 170.83 points or 0.92% to 18,422.23, Jakarta Composite slipped 9.71 points or 0.25% to 3,859.71, Straits Times sank 21.89 points or 0.81% to 2,693.70, Seoul Composite plummeted 22.96 points or 1.25% to 1,820.18 and Taiwan Weighted declined 40.05 points or 0.56% to 7,080.46.

On the flipside only Shanghai Composite surged 31.17 points or 1.44% to 2,194.57.

The stock markets in Japan remained closed on Monday in observance of a public holiday.

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