Most of the Asian equity indices are exhibiting sluggish trade in Thursday’s morning session as weak euro zone data, a sluggish debt auction in Italy and fears of a potential run on Cyprus’s banks stoked investors' concerns about instability in Europe. Chinese Shanghai remained the top loser, with a fall of over two and a half percent as banks took a hit after they were ordered to tighten control over wealth management products and improve transparency. Japanese Nikkei too tumbled by about one and a half percent as euro zone concern prompted profit taking in exporters and financials.
Shanghai Composite tumbled 60.66 points or 2.64% to 2,240.60, Hang Seng declined 250.21 points or 1.11% to 22,214.61, Jakarta Composite dipped 22.25 points or 0.45% to 4,905.85, Nikkei 225 dropped 179.61 points or 1.44% to 12,314.18, Straits Times decreased 5.08 points or 0.15% to 3,307.95, KOSPI Composite slipped 3.27 points or 0.16% to 1,990.17 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 33.72 points or 0.43% to 7,860.40.
On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up by 2.41 points or 0.14% to 1,669.98.
