(MENAFN– ecpulse)
After Wall Street ended lower overnight and the Dow Jones closed at its lowest level in over a month as investors continued to gauge when the US Federal Reserve might start to reduce its stimulus, Asian stock were dragged lower.
Volumes remained lower than usual in Asia on Thursday as markets in Indian and South Korean are closed for holidays.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4% to 135.41 as of 12:17 in Hong Kong
In Japan the benchmark index widened its losses after the stronger yen weighed on manufacturers with the dollar/yen pair reaching a low of 97.56 following comments from Japanese ministers who minimized the idea of corporate tax cuts.
- Nikkei 225 closed 2.12% lower at 13752.94
- Topix closed 1.67% lower at 1151.82
In China stocks fell as sentiment was dampened by news that telecom companies, oil firms and banks may be the next target of China`s price regulators, while drugmakers fell on news Beijing is intensifying its bribery investigation in the sector.
- China’s CSI 300 Index closed 1.17% lower at 2321.58
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.01% lower at 22539.25
In Australia stocks fell as caution over earnings weighed on sentiment, however a rise in metal prices boosted miners and capped heavier losses on the index. AMP Capital increased 3.7% after reporting a smaller-than-expected decline in first-half earnings.
- The S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.10% lower at 5152.37
- New Zealand’s NZX 50 closed 0.13% higher at 4530.26
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