Asian markets lower in quiet holiday trade

HONG KONG—Asian markets were marginally lower in quiet trading Tuesday, with few economic developments or data in the region or elsewhere to drive sentiment.

Japanese shares closed 0.46 percent lower, or 38.78 points, at 8,440.56, Seoul finished 0.79 percent lower, or 14.68 points, at 1,842.02, and Shanghai shares ended the day off 1.09 percent, or 23.90 points, at 2,166.21.

“We won’t see too much volatility this week as investors will be cautious before the New Year holiday,” Li Xiaoxuan, an analyst with Shenyin Wanguo Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Financial markets in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand were closed for public holidays, as was London, while traders awaited the reopening of New York and other Western markets after the Christmas break.

Once international investors return to the market, they will focus on US economic data, including the Case-Shiller home price index to be released later in the day, said Yumi Nishimura, senior market analyst at Daiwa Securities.

“US housing data have been firm lately,” she said. “More solid data will likely push the Nikkei above 8,500.”

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 3.6 percent to end the week at 12,294.00 points. The tech-focused Nasdaq rose 2.5 percent for the week and the broader S&P 500 added 3.7 percent.

Those rises came in reaction to upbeat US economic data, with weekly claims for unemployment benefits falling to their lowest level since April 2008, and a move in Congress to extend temporary tax breaks and unemployment benefits.

Last week, the European Central Bank moved to give hundreds of billions of euros in cheap loans to under-pressure lenders, but while it provided them with a lifeline it also highlighted the region’s massive fiscal problems.

On currency markets, the dollar stood at 77.83 yen, largely unchanged from 77.99 yen in Tokyo Monday.

The euro was also flat at $1.3072 and 101.76 yen, compared with $1.3059 and 101.88 yen on Monday.

New York’s main oil contract light sweet crude for February delivery gained 29 cents to $99.92 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for February delivery added 28 cents to $108.34.

Gold stood at $1,597.27 an ounce at 1150 GMT.

In other markets:

— Taiwan’s weighted index edged down 0.11 percent, or 7.55 points, at 7,085.03.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. added 0.67 percent at Tw$75.5 while Hon Hai Precision was 0.36 percent lower at Tw$82.2.

— Manila closed 0.58 percent lower, or 25.63 points, to 4,361.43.

Top-traded SM Investments Corp. slipped 0.86 percent to 575 pesos while Alliance Global Group Inc. dropped 2.30 percent to 10.20 pesos.

— Singapore shares closed 0.11 percent lower at 2,673.62 points.

Keppel Corp. lost 0.32 percent to Sg$9.50 and Wilmar gained 0.20 percent to Sg$5.04.

— Mumbai closed 0.61 percent lower, or 96.8 points, at 15,873.95.

Real estate major DLF dropped 2.70 percent to 191.25 rupees, pharmaceutical firm Cipla fell 2.68 percent to 319.70 rupees and Coal India dropped 2.44 percent to 298.15.

— Bangkok edged down 0.40 percent, or 4.13 points, to 1,028.38.

Banpu lost 0.73 percent to 544 baht, while PTT added 0.32 percent to 318 baht.

— Indonesian shares were 0.2 percent lower, or 7.73 points, at 3,789.43.

Bank Mandiri declined 0.7 percent to Rp 6,750, while miner Aneka Tambang slipped 0.6 percent to Rp 1,610.

— Kuala Lumpur inched 4.76 points, or 0.32 percent, higher at 1,500.91.

Telekom Malaysia was 4.2 percent higher at 5.00 ringgit and Petronas Gas Bhd gained 1.8 percent to 14.40 ringgit, while MMC Corp slipped 1.2 percent to 2.57 ringgit.

Originally posted at 01:53 pm | Tuesday, December 27, 2011