Asian equities fail to show fervor; slump for second straight session

29 Mar 2012 Evaluate

Stock markets across Asia once again failed to show any kind of enthusiasm and plummeted for second session in a row as nervous investors continued to take profits off the table amid discouraging cues from the global front. Sentiments got spooked in the session tracking the overnight decline on Wall Street on the back of disappointing set of economic reports including US durable goods new orders which increased only modestly in February while the downward revision of UK’s fourth quarter gross domestic product too raised concerns about global growth. In addition, concerns about the slowing world’s second largest Chinese economy have dissuaded market participants from riskier asset classes like equities.

All the major equity indices across Asia were smarting with cuts of halt to one percent however; the Taiwanese benchmark was the top laggard with over two percent losses. The markets in Japan sank closed to a percent despite reports that the nation’s retail sales climbed more than expected in February.

Shanghai Composite declined 12.82 points or 0.56% to 2,272.06, Hang Seng plunged 230.45 points or 1.10% to 20,654.97, Jakarta Composite eased 6.94 points or 0.17% to 4,083.63, KLSE Composite fell 0.33 points or 0.02% to 1,583.42, Nikkei 225 sank 79.51 points or 0.78% to 10,103.06, Straits Times shed 16.27 points or 0.54% to 2,999.71, Seoul Composite plummeted 21.74 points or 1.07% to 2,010.00 and Taiwan Weighted nosedived 161.93 points or 2.01% to 7,876.14.

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