Published: Thursday, 5 Nov 2009 | 6:20 AM ET

Text Size

Asian stock markets fell on Thursday as investors received little encouragement after the Federal Reserve reiterated its intent to keep interest rates low.

Tokyo and Seoul lost over 1% each, as caution set in ahead of Friday's U.S. jobs data for clues on the state of the U.S. economic recovery.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average ended the session down 1.3% to hit its lowest in a month. Exporters declined as investors took profits on caution ahead of U.S. jobs data due out on Friday. Sanyo slumped 20.4% after Panasonic launched a bid for shares in the world's largest rechargeable battery maker.

Consumer finance firms rallied for a third straight session, boosted by news that the government could relax its stringent regulation on the industry. Takefuji surged 19%.

Toyota fell 0.8%. After the close, the world's biggest car maker posted a surprise profit in the second quarter and halved its annual loss forecast.

Nissan Motor pared gains to close 0.3% higher after Japan's third-biggest automaker revised its annual outlook to a profit from a loss on Wednesday as soaring sales in China helped drive quarterly earnings beyond market expectations.

Seoul shares closed down 1.8% as concerns over the sustainability of the economic recovery and a strengthening won weighed on sentiment. The country's leading tech names came under pressure, with Hynix Semiconductor losing 3.4%.

Hyundai Motor dropped 4.2%, battered by worries that the world's No. 4 carmaker could lose market share in the United States.

Australian shares fell 0.7% following an unconvincing rally on Wall Street overnight. Miners and property stocks dragged on the S&P/ASX 200 but health-care issues helped to limit the index's decline.

David Jones declined 4.2% after the retailer's first-quarter sales growth came in well below analysts' forecasts.

Toll-road operator Transurban Group outperformed, surging 19.4% to a nine-month high, after its board rejected a $4.4 billion takeover bid from two Canadian pension funds.

Taiwan's Taiex ended 0.7% as investors cashed in on recent gains in financial and property shares. However, DRAM maker Nanya Tech surged 5.5% on prospect of better sales for the fourth quarter.

Hong Kong stocks lost 0.6%, retreating from a 1.8% gain the previous day. Investors sold shares of local property firms, with Cheung Kong down 1.5% and Sun Hung Kai Properties shedding 1.7%. But Chinese developer Evergrande Real Estate rose 34.3% on its trading debut.

Chinese stocks bucked the downward trend to end at a fresh three-month closing high, up 0.9%. The market was supported by comments by Chinese officials reaffirming the country's pro-growth policy stance. Shanghai-based firms got a lift as details emerged about a planned Disney theme park in the city.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore's STI slipped 0.7% while Malaysia' KLCI closed flat.

Print

Email

Text Size