Asian shares mostly down after losses in New York

In this Sept. 25, 2013 file photo, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center left, is escorted by NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer as they tour the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York. Asian markets mostly fell Thursday following losses on Wall Street, as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s recent policy meeting showed officials are confident the US economy can withstand stimulus cuts. AP

HONG KONG—Asian markets mostly fell Thursday following losses on Wall Street, as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s recent policy meeting showed officials are confident the US economy can withstand stimulus cuts.

Tokyo dropped 1.50 percent, or 241.12 points, to 15,880.33 and Seoul fell 0.66 percent, or 12.85 points, to close at 1,946.11.

Hong Kong finished down 0.91 percent, or 209.26 points, at 22,787.33 while Shanghai closed down 0.82 percent, or 16.72 points, at 2,027.62.

Bucking the trend was Sydney, which rose 0.16 percent—or 8.4 points—to 5,324.40, despite news that Moody’s had become the second agency to cut Australian carrier Qantas’s debt rating to junk status after it announced a profit warning last month.

Qantas climbed 2.27 percent even after Moody’s said it now rates the airline Ba2 following Standard and Poor’s decision last month to assign it BB+ status.

Moody’s cited “a sharp deterioration in the company’s core domestic business” after the carrier forecast in December a half-year loss of up to Aus$300 million (US$267 million) and the slashing of 1,000 jobs due to “immense” cost pressures.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei-255 fell on continued profit-taking with a weaker yen failing to lift the market into positive territory. Seoul’s slide came after South Korea’s central bank froze its key interest rate for an eighth consecutive month.

The Bank of Korea kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.5 percent and maintained the forecast it made three months earlier that the economy will grow 3.8 percent this year.

In China, official figures showed inflation at 2.6 percent in 2013, well below Beijing’s 3.5 percent target. Analysts broadly welcomed the statistics, saying they pointed to a stable outlook for prices and a reduced chance of monetary tightening.

On Wall Street the Dow slipped and the S&P 500 ended flat Wednesday after the release of minutes from the Fed’s December 17-18 policy meeting.

They showed that central bank policymakers expect unemployment to continue falling even without the support of its vast bond-buying program.

The meeting concluded with the bank reducing its stimulus—which has been in place since September 2012—by $10 billion to $75 billion in January.

“Most members agreed that the cumulative improvement in labour market conditions and the likelihood that the improvement would be sustained indicated that the (policy committee) could appropriately begin to slow the pace of its asset purchases at the meeting,” the minutes said.

“Most had become more confident” that labor market conditions would continue to improve.

The Dow slipped 0.41 percent, the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq rose 0.30 percent.

The bank’s next meeting will be on Jan. 28-29. Investors will have their eyes on the release Friday of non-farm payrolls data for fresh clues about the state of the economy.

In afternoon Tokyo currency trade the dollar bought 104.85 yen, against 104.82 yen late in New York but still down from rates slightly above 105 yen in Tokyo Wednesday.

The euro held firm at $1.3575 and 142.33 yen, compared with $1.3574 and 142.26 yen in the United States.

On oil markets New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for February delivery, was up 38 cents at $92.71. Brent North Sea crude for February rose 36 cents to $107.42.

Gold fetched $1,226.19 at 1025 GMT compared with $1,225.50 late Wednesday.

In other markets:

— Taipei fell 0.48 percent, or 41.33 points, to 8,514.68.

TSMC slid 2.88 percent to Tw$101.0 while Hon Hai rose 1.26 percent to Tw$80.5.

— Wellington rose 35.07 points, or 0.73 percent, to 4,814.87.

Fletcher Building was up 2.14 percent at NZ$8.61 and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund was down 1.71 percent at NZ$5.76 on news it will face a lawsuit over a botulism scare last year.

— Manila was 0.82 percent, or 48.97 points, lower at 5,937.51.

Metropolitan Bank plunged 5.01 percent to 73.90 pesos while International Container Terminal Services fell 2.51 percent to 97 pesos.

— Bangkok was flat, adding 0.53 points to 1,258.26.

Oil company PTT lost 0.35 percent to 284 baht, while telecoms company Advanced Info Service dropped 1.46 percent to 203 baht.

— Jakarta finished flat, up 0.63 points at 4,201.22.

State miner Aneka Tambang fell 0.50 percent to 1,005 rupiah, while Bank Negara Indonesia rose 2.55 percent to 3,820 rupiah.

— Singapore slid 0.17 percent, or 5.24 points, to 3,145.41.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.21 percent to Sg$9.74 while oil rig maker Keppel Corp. dropped 1.43 percent to Sg$11.06.

— Kuala Lumpur slipped 0.17 percent, or 3.09 points, to 1,828.21.

Telekom Malaysia lost 0.2 percent to 5.43 ringgit, while plantation conglomerate Sime Darby shed 0.6 percent to 9.30 ringgit.

— Mumbai ended flat, falling 16.01 points to 20,713.37.

India’s Future Retail fell 4.68 percent to 86.60 rupees while engineering giant Larsen and Toubro fell 2.68 percent to 971.60 rupees.