Sentiments turned choppy in the Asian region after two days rally and most of the Asian equity indices ended the session in the negative territory on Thursday on concerns that China would retain property-market curbs this year unsettled investors, while the US dollar continued to rise broadly and Japanese exporters’ shares extended recent gains boosted by a weaker yen.
Meanwhile, Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite ended at three-week low declining 0.73 percent as investors’ focus shifted to Chinese growth concerns, after Premier Wen made some fairly negative comments about the property market. However, Japanese Nikkei edged higher by 0.73 percent extending an eight-month high, as the yen’s drop to an 11-month low against the dollar buoyed earnings prospects for exporters.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,373.77 | -17.46 | -0.73 |
Hang Seng | 21,353.53 | 45.64 | 0.21 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,039.98 | -14.35 | -0.35 |
KLSE Composite | 1,579.38 | 3.67 | 0.23 |
Nikkei 225 | 10,123.28 | 72.76 | 0.72 |
Straits Times | 3,025.84 | -0.56 | -0.02 |
Seoul Composite | 2,043.76 | -1.32 | -0.06 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8,121.62 | -3.64 | -0.04 |