Asian equities retreat after last session’s rally

After staging a smart performance in the previous session, stock markets in the Asian region retreated in Thursday’s trading session as sentiments got undermined by the weak overnight close on Wall Street. The US markets closed on a mixed note as investors pondered over the disappointing employment reports from the US and Euro-zone, which showed far fewer than expected jobs were added in April, intensifying concerns over slowing down global economic recovery. Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing (PMI) index in China indicated that the services sector activity moderated from March's ten-month high to hit 56.1 in April. Though the index stayed above the 50 level, which separates contraction and expansion however declining new orders kept investors worried.

The benchmark in South Korea snapped its four straight session winning streak and declined about half a percent. While majority of equity indices in the region traded on a pessimistic note, there appeared no index which traded with over half a percent cut. On the other hand, the benchmark in Singapore bucked the negative trend and traded on a positive note with marginal gains.

Shanghai Composite dropped 8.95 points or 0.37% to 2,429.49, Hang Seng Index fell 114.36 points or 0.54% to 21,194.72, Jakarta Composite lost 0.45 points or 0.01% to 4,218.84, KLSE Composite eased 0.73 points or 0.05% to 1,581.66, KOSPI Composite Index declined 7.31 points or 0.37% to 1,991.76 and Taiwan Weighted shed 28.77 points or 0.37% to 7,648.04.

On the flipside only Straits Times Index gained 1.44 points or 0.05% to 3,007.58

Stock markets in Japan remained closed on Thursday on account of Constitution Memorial Day and would re-open directly on Monday.