All the Asian markets barring Straits Times, concluded Thursday’s trade in red on account of profit-taking following a weak lead from Wall Street. Japan’s Corporate Goods Price Index fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.4%, from 2.5% in the preceding month. Bank Indonesia in its monthly monetary policy meeting decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged. The key policy rate was kept unchanged at 7.50%. The Bank of Korea too held its policy interest rate steady at 2.5% as widely expected, citing contained inflation and continued economic recovery. The central bank hasn’t changed the benchmark rate since May of last year.
Malaysian GDP rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.1%, from 5.0% in the preceding month. Malaysia trimmed its fiscal deficit to 3.9% of gross domestic product last year, after cutting government spending and state subsidies to avert a credit-rating downgrade. Prime Minister Najib Razak narrowed the shortfall from 4.5% of GDP in 2012, beating the government’s 4% deficit target for last year. The country wants to further reduce the budget gap to 3.5% this year and achieve a balanced budget by the end of this decade.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2098.40 | -11.55 | -0.55 |
Hang Seng | 22165.53 | -120.26 | -0.54 |
Jakarta Composite | 4491.66 | -4.63 | -0.10 |
KLSE Composite | 1817.15 | -8.49 | -0.47 |
Nikkei 225 | 14534.74 | -265.32 | -1.79 |
Straits Times | 3039.90 | 4.45 | 0.15 |
KOSPI Composite | 1926.96 | -8.88 | -0.46 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8467.70 | -43.17 | -0.51 |