Asian equities trade on an unexciting note in quarter’s last trading day

30 Mar 2012 Evaluate

Stock markets across the Asian region displayed unimpressive trends on the last trading session of the January - March quarter. Markets in the region largely got off to a positive opening after being pummeled in last two sessions however, profit booking at higher levels by nervy investors has made the picture mixed as benchmarks in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan drifted into the negative territory. The mixed closing for overnight US markets too failed to give direction to the regional counter parts. While, on one hand US government’s third reading on GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 remained unrevised at 3%, on the other, weekly initial jobless claims ended March 24 fell by 5,000 to 359,000 but less than expected 350,000 claims.

The benchmark in China traded gained around half a percent in the session as investors remained cautiously optimistic ahead of the release of Chinese purchasing managers index, or PMI, a key gauge of manufacturing growth. On the other hand, Japanese frontline equity index declined after factory activity in the world’s third largest economy declined to a worse than expected 1.2 percent in February, its first drop in three months.

Shanghai Composite advanced 9.56 points or 0.42% to 2,261.72, Jakarta Composite gained 3.78 points or 0.09% to 4,108.95, KLSE Composite rose 6.15 points or 0.39% to 1,591.59 and Straits Times added 12.69 points or 0.42% to 3,006.78.

On the other hand, Hang Seng declined 121.47 points or 0.59% to 20,487.92, Nikkei 225 eased 15.81 points or 0.16% to 10,098.98, Seoul Composite fell 2.37 points or 0.12% to 2,012.04 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 21.40 points or 0.27% to 7,851.26.

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