Asian stock markets trade on a cautious note on Thursday

15 Mar 2012 Evaluate

Asian stock markets traded on a cautious note on Thursday with most markets failing to rise above their previous closing levels since investors shied away from equities after the recent sharp upmoves. Market participants remained unconvinced to open fresh positions as overnight mixed clues from Wall Street failed to give any direction to the markets in the region. The optimism over brighter economic outlook for the world’s largest economy got offset by increasing growth worries over world’s second largest Chinese economy which is also touted to be as global growth engine.

The equity index in Shanghai, which got butchered in late trade in last session, continued to show weakness on Thursday on Premier Wen Jiabao’s remarks that the nation would grow at a slower clip and as he dampened hopes for any near-term easing measures. However, the benchmark in Japan traded on a positive note for the third straight session after the yen depreciated to 11 month low levels against US dollar and bolstered earnings prospects for export oriented stocks.

Shanghai Composite slipped 3.72 points or 0.16% to 2,394.95, Hang Seng eased 9.26 points or 0.04% to 21,298.63, Straits Times shed 5.40 points or 0.18% to 3,021.00, Seoul Composite fell 4.27 points or 0.21% to 2,040.81 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 18.99 points or 0.23% to 8,106.27.

On the flipside, Jakarta Composite gained 1.83 points or 0.05% to 4,056.16, KLSE Composite added 2.58 points or 0.16% to 1,578.29 and Nikkei 225 advanced 40.67 points or 0.40% to 10,091.19.

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