Asian Markets - Asian Markets Moves Back in Red Ahead of the Weekend

Asian Markets Moves Back in Red Ahead of the Weekend

Asian markets mostly declined, with Shanghai listed shares suffering steep declines in airlines stocks which skidded on worries about high oil prices, while fears of a slowdown in corporate earnings hurt steel and power companies.

Japanese stocks overcame early volatility and extended gains into the fourth straight session as exporters rallied on a weakened yen. In addition to this the consumer sentiment in Japan improved in March from the previous month, rising for the first time in six months. The index for the Cabinet Office's consumer confidence survey, which measures consumers' economic outlook for the coming six months, rose 0.6 point to 36.7 in March.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average finished 0.6% higher at 13,476.45, and the broader Topix index rose 0.8% to 1,304.06, after flirting with losses in early trading.

China's Shanghai Composite slumped 4% to 3,094.67, finishing at its lowest point since March 2007, while the Shenzhen All Share Index lost 4.2% to 930.63.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dropped 0.3% to 24,197.78 and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped 1.7% to 12,670.51 by late afternoon.

Australian shares declined as investors locked in profits after three days of advance. The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 1.6% to 5,429.70. On the economic front the price index of Australian imports rose 2.7% in the first quarter of 2008 from the fourth quarter 2007. The price index for exports rose 3.5% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter.

Petroleum, which rose 11%, and gold, which rose 15.9%, contributed to the increase in the import price index. While the increases in the price of gold, cereals, meat and gas contributed to the increase in the export price index.

New Zealand's NZX 50 index lost 0.3% to 3,557.47, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2% to 1,771.90, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.1% to 3,112.16 and Taiwan's weighted index slipped 0.2% to 9,074.34.

The Indian stock markets were closed for a holiday.

In Asian currency trading, the U.S. dollar bought 102.46 yen. In New York, the dollar weakened to 102.52 yen late Thursday from 101.82 yen late Wednesday.

May crude-oil futures rose as much as two cents to $114.88 a barrel in electronic trading, after settling at $114.86 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The European markets climbed in morning trade, paced by chemical stocks, while banks put in a mixed performance after reports that Royal Bank of Scotland could ask shareholders for money to shore up its capital position and as Societe Generale moved to split its top job in two.

Regionally, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 0.5% to 6,009.10, the German DAX 30 index climbed 0.6% to 6,721.62 and the French CAC-40 index advanced 0.7% to 4,895.48.

On the economic front, producer prices in Germany rose 0.7 pct in March from February, while increasing 4.2 pct from March last year, the Federal Statistics Office said. The producer price index stood at 123.4 in March compared with 122.6 in February and 118.4 in March 2007, the office said.

Looking ahead for the day we have money supply data from United Kingdom followed by leading economic indicators for Canada.