Asia Roundup: Down on US, European default fears

HONG KONG: Most Asian stocks followed global markets downwards yesterday as the eurozone debt crisis rumbled on while lawmakers in Washington remained deadlocked on an agreement to avoid a US default.

Gold remained at record highs amid general risk-aversion at a time of economic uncertainty.

Tokyo closed 0.85 per cent, or 84.75 points, lower at 9,889.72 and Shanghai lost 0.70 per cent, or 19.71 points, to end at 2,796.98.

Seoul ended flat, edging down 0.27 points to 2,130.21 and Sydney was also flat, losing 3.9 points to 4,468.1.

On Wall Street the Dow gave up 0.76 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.81 per cent and the Nasdaq slid 0.89 per cent.

In other markets:

* Taipei ended 0.16 per cent, or 14.00 points, lower at 8,524.57.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co fell 1.72 per cent at NT$68.5 while leading smartphone maker HTC was 2.53 per cent higher at NT$893.

* Manila rose 0.22 per cent, or 9.64 points, to 4,485.65.
The market is at a record high as miners were boosted by the surging price of gold.

* Wellington closed 0.18 per cent, or 6.14 points, higher at 3,392.02.
Fletcher Building ended up 0.5 per cent at NZ$8.04 and Telecom rose 1.8 per cent to NZ$2.54 but electricity and gas distributor Vector fell 4.4 per cent to NZ$2.42 and New Zealand stock exchange operator NZX Ltd dived 4.5 per cent to NZ$2.12.

* Jakarta fell 0.24 per cent, or 9.55 points, to 4,023.42.
Tin miner Timah fell 3.9 per cent to 2,500 rupiah, Bank Mandiri lost 2.6 per cent to 7,650 rupiah and car maker Astra fell 1.5 per cent to 71,500 rupiah.

* Bangkok rose 1.18 per cent, or 12.83 points, to 1,096.77.
Banpu added 2.00 baht to 738.00, while PTT gained 2.00 baht to 340.00.

* Mumbai rose 0.79 per cent, or 146.83 points, to 18,653.87.
India's top property firm DLF climbed 2.09 per cent to 239.85 rupees while the largest bank State Bank of India gained 1.59 per cent to 2,511.6. - AFP