Asian markets down in jittery trade

HONG KONG—Asian stock markets were down in jittery trade Thursday as global economic uncertainty shook confidence and Japan’s strong yen continued to bite.

Tokyo was 1.25 percent, or 113.50 points, down at 8,943.76, its lowest close since March 15, when the Tokyo bourse plunged in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and a subsequent nuclear emergency.

Sydney shed 1.22 percent, or 52.7 points, to 4,251.2 on profit taking and Seoul dropped 1.70 percent, or 32.09 points, to 1,860.58.

Hong Kong lost 1.34 percent, or 262.76, to 20,016.27 and Shanghai dropped 1.61 percent, or 41.79 points, to 2,559.47.

Shortly before Tokyo’s opening bell, official data showed Japan’s exports fell for a fifth straight month in July, but the nation still managed to record a trade surplus as the economy gradually recovers from the triple disaster.

Exports were down 3.3 percent from a year ago to 5.78 trillion yen ($75.4 billion), better than market expectation of a 4.4-percent fall, the Finance Ministry said.

“We’re trying to confirm whether the recovery trend in exports will continue,” Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Takahashi said there was still a trend for buying shares of companies dependent on domestic demand and for avoiding exporters due to the strong yen.

The yen’s strength hurts Japanese exporters by making their products more expensive abroad and reducing their repatriated overseas earnings.

“Selling, particularly of auto shares, is accelerating on the back of concerns about a slowdown in the global economy and the firmer yen,” Monex market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama told Dow Jones Newswires.

The Japanese unit remained high in Thursday trade at 76.65 yen to the dollar, slightly down from 76.54 yen in New York.

Forex investors were wary of a possible Japanese intervention after Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he was watching the market “carefully.”

The euro came under pressure from profit taking following gains made the previous day.

The single currency stood at $1.4386 and 110.26 yen, slipping from $1.4428 and 110.45 yen in New York Wednesday.

“The euro rose well on Wednesday, so investors are taking this chance to take profits,” said Tokyo Forex and Ueda Harlow senior dealer Yuzo Sakai.

Moves by the Swiss National Bank to stem the rise of the safe-haven franc were met with a shrug, as players felt the bank had not done enough to make a significant difference.

The franc “shot up after the Swiss National Bank didn’t announce a peg to the euro to weaken it, despite speculation of such a step,” noted John Kyriakopoulos of National Australia Bank.

However, he added: “In our view this is a slow burner.”

The Swiss franc saw volatile trade, falling sharply to below 1.1500 to the euro at around 0530 GMT before rebounding to 1.1464, compared with 1.1365 earlier in the day.

The dollar stood at 0.7976 francs from 0.7897.

Europe’s main stock markets followed Asia’s lead at the start of trading on Thursday.

In early trade, London’s FTSE 100 index was down 2 percent, Frankfurt shed 3.18 percent, Paris lost 2.33 percent, Madrid retreated 2.10 percent and Milan slumped 3.01 percent, with banking stocks hit hard.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat, up just 4.28 points, or 0.04 percent, at 11,410.21.

Gold closed in Asia at $1,794-$1,795 an ounce, up on its Wednesday close of $1,791 -$1,792. It had opened at $1,787-$1,788.

Oil was lower as investors looked to more data indicating the health of the US economy, the world’s biggest oil consuming nation.

The US government is expected to release figures on jobless claims and inflation in the world’s biggest economy, which is struggling to avoid dipping back into recession.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude for September delivery, was down 36 cents to $87.22 a barrel in Asian afternoon trade.

Brent North Sea crude for October eased nine cents to $110.51.

In other markets:

— Manila closed 1.46 percent, or 63.27 points, higher at 4,403.54.

Top-traded Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. “A” shares climbed 6.94 percent to 1.54 pesos while SM Investments Corp. rose 2.83 percent to 545 pesos.

San Miguel Corp. added 2.40 percent to 128 pesos.

— Taipei fell 1.64 percent, or 126.79 points, to 7,614.97.

HTC shed 3.5 percent at Tw$773.0 while TSMC was 2.13 percent lower to Tw$64.4.

— Wellington closed down 0.12 percent, or 3.88 points, at 3,286.22 in subdued trade.

Fletcher Building rose 1.2 percent to NZ$7.95, Telecom Corp. fell 1.7 percent to NZ$2.605 and Air New Zealand dipped 0.9 percent to NZ$1.10.

— Kuala Lumpur ended flat, up 0.23 points, at 1,503.30.

Axiata Group gained 0.40 percent to 5.00 ringgit, while Malayan Banking inched up 0.23 percent to 8.70. Esso Malaysia lost 18.59 percent to 4.03 ringgit.

— Singapore fell 0.13 percent, or 3.57 points, to 2,824.96.

Container shipping firm Neptune Orient Lines was down 2.7 percent to Sg$1.09 and Singapore Telecom was off 2.4 percent to Sg$2.90.

— Jakarta rose 1.71 percent, or 67.72 points, to 4,020.99.

Car maker Astra International rose 3.9 percent to 72,950 rupiah, while coal miner Berau jumped 5.8 percent to 550 rupiah.

— Bangkok fell 0.40 percent, or 4.42 points, to 1,089.09.

Banpu was unchanged at 680 while PTT lost 3 baht to 329.

— India’s Sensex index fell 2.2 percent, ending down 371.01 points to 16,469.79.

The nation’s third largest software outsourcer Wipro fell 5.65 percent to 324.8 rupees while rival TCS slid 3.94 percent to 965 while private bank ICICI Bank ended down 5.02 percent at 864.85.