Asian shares close mixed, China A-shares sharply lower on tightening fears

Asian shares close mixed, China A-shares sharply lower on tightening fears

	Published : Fri, 02 Feb 2007 09:12 By : Agencies Print this Story

HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Shares across the Asia-Pacific region closed mixed, with some markets boosted by Wall Street's rise overnight but Tokyo flat on profit taking and China A-shares sharply lower on fears of further government tightening, dealers said.

Tokyo shares closed flat, having shed gains made during the course of the day in response to the release of healthy corporate quarterly results, dealers said.

They said while sentiment remained generally positive, with Matsushita Electric Industrial having yesterday joined other major companies in increasing its forecasts of earnings for the fiscal year ending March, investors had sought further incentives to chase prices higher.

Short-term players moved to lock in profits, as they usually do before the weekend, dealers said.

The blue-chip Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed 27.61 points or 0.16 pct higher at 17,547.11, off a high of 17,633.61.

The broader TOPIX index of all first-section issue ended 3.82 points or 0.22 pct higher at 1,742.40, off a high of 1,750.72.

'The market was top-heavy, especially since investors were wary of the resistance above the 1,750-point bar on the Topix index, a territory which has basically remained unexplored since the burst of the bubble in the late 1980s, a trader at a European firm said.

Australian shares closed at fresh record highs as sentiment remained broadly bullish, although some caution ahead of US Jan payrolls data tonight limited the upside, dealers said.

The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 17.4 points or 0.30 pct to a new record close of of 5,831.5, beating yesterday's previous record of 5,814.1. The key index also hit a fresh intra-day record of 5,841.3. The low for the day was 5,816.8.

Over the trading week the benchmark index climbed 61.6 points or 1.1 pct.

Hong Kong shares were stronger in afternoon trade as Wall Street's gains overnight and robust US consumer spending data encouraged investors to build positions in property stocks and China financials, dealers said.

At 3.50 pm the Hang Seng Index was up 102.25 points or 0.50 pct at 20,532.41.

In mainland China, A-shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen closed sharply lower on heavy institutional selling prompted by fears of more government measures to curb market liquidity, dealers said.

They noted that financial and property issues were among the most heavily sold stocks.

'Investors were aggressively cutting their positions, and most of them are still making significant profits even if they sell the shares at current price levels,' said Wang Mingzhi, an analyst at GF Securities.

Wang said investors are likely to become increasingly sidelined after the government recently voiced concerns over a stock market bubble, suggesting it will take further measures to reduce liquidity.

The Shanghai A-share Index was down 118.43 points or 4.05 pct at 2,808.34 and the Shenzhen A-share Index was down 19.70 points or 2.87 pct at 666.28.

Seoul shares closed sharply higher with sentiment underpinned by Wall Street's advance on robust consumer spending data, dealers said.

Foreign investors' strong interest in blue chips pushed the benchmark index well above 1,400 points to its highest in a month, they added.

The KOSPI index closed up 30.24 points or 2.19 pct at 1,413.14, off a high of 1,413.34 and a low of 1,386.06. The benchmark index rose 42.81 points for the week.