Thursday, May 25, 2006

Investors continue to avoid risk in Asian markets

by Brian Turner

Asian equities markets were down again on Thursday as investors continued to look for less risky places to put their money. The exception was the BSE 30 Index in India, which added 0.88 percent to 10,666.32 after a rally late in the day.

In Thailand the SET Index fell 1.8 percent to 701.03, it’s lowest close in five months. In South Korea, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index dropped 2.82 percent to 1,295.76, the third biggest one-day decline so far this year and the index’s lowest close in six months. The Hang Seng, in Hong Kong, declined by 0.79 percent to 15,696.89, while the Straits Times Index in Singapore lost 1.3 percent to 2,404.45.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney lost 1.21 percent to 4,976.80.

The Tokyo equities markets were also down on the day, with the Nikkei 225 losing 1.3 percent to 15,693.75 and the Topix index dropping 1.3 percent as well, to close at 1,584.71. Declines came for both domestic and export-focused stocks.

The electronics sector was down 1.4 percent as a whole. Toshiba lost 4.5 percent to ¥713, while Sony declined by 1.4 percent to ¥5,090. Automobile manufacturer Toyota, also focused on exports, lost 1.8 percent to ¥6,010.

Among more domestically focused sectors, securities were down 3.6 percent as a whole. Nomura dropped 3.7 percent to ¥2,200, while Daiwa Securities and Nikko Cordial each lost 4 percent to ¥1,377 and ¥1,566 respectively.

The real estate sector dropped 1.5 percent as a whole. Mitsui Fudosan lost 1.9 percent to ¥2,340 and Mitsubishi Estate ended the day down 3.9 percent to ¥2,230.

 

 

 

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