Asia Stocks Close Lower Amid Worries Over Global Economic Recovery

HONG KONG, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) --

Asia's stocks fell lower on Thursday on Wall Street's plunge overnight as investors worried about the prospect of the global economic recovery after the U.S. Federal Reserve warned that the U.S. economy was showing signs of a slowdown.

In China, the shares dropped more than 1 percent Thursday as coal producers and brokerages fell after overseas markets dipped overnight.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,575.48 points, down 32.02 points, or 1.23 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index ended at 10,680.02 points, down 126.61 points, or 1.17 percent.

Turnover expanded to 191.91 billion yuan (28.3 billion U.S. dollars) from 174.52 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Overnight losses on Wall Street by more than 2 percent and other foreign markets dampened Chinese investment sentiment, analysts said.

Tokyo's key Nikkei stock index fell 0.86 percent as concerns about the U.S. Federal Reserve's plans to boost growth confirmed the world's largest economy is in trouble.

The knock-on effect of the Fed's decision sent the U.S. dollar to a 15-year low against the yen, pummeling Japan's exporters and saw investors take flight from risky assets, dumping equities and buying yen, brokers said.

As a result, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended 80.26 points lower from Wednesday to 9,212.59, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 6.67 points, or 0.80 percent, to 827.78.

Analysts said that investors are becoming increasingly wary about the state of the global economic recovery, particularly potential slowdowns in the U.S. and China and the yen's persistent strength against the U.S. dollar is playing havoc with exporter issues.

Also, Hong Kong stocks closed down 188.83 points, or 0.89 percent, at 21,105.71 on Thursday, after trading between a day high of 21,124.98 points and a day low of 20,926.48 points.

Turnover totaled 67.83 billion HK dollars compared with Wednesday's 61.36 billion HK dollars (1 U.S. dollar equals to 7. 766 HK dollar).

South Korea's benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index ( KOSPI) nosedived 36.44 points, or 2.07 percent, to a five-week low of 1,721.75.

Trading volume was moderate at 350 million shares worth 5.3 trillion won (4.47 billion U.S. dollars) with losers trumping gainers 606 to 210.

The decision of South Korea's central bank on Thursday to freeze its benchmark interest rate at 2.25 percent for August made little impact on investor sentiment, analysts said.

The local currency closed at 1,186.2 won to the dollar, down 3. 7 won from Wednesday's close.

The Australian stock market remained weak on Thursday after a poor performance on global markets and a lift in the domestic unemployment rate.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 63.9 points, or 1.43 percent, at 4,391.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had slipped 65.2 points, or 1.46 percent, to 4,414.5 points.

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday showed the jobless rate rose to 5.3 percent in July, from 5.1 percent in June, after aggressive interest rate hikes.

The number of people out of work increased as the labor market shed 4,200 full time jobs.

The Australian dollar fell 0.25 U.S. cents after the release of the jobs data.

The New Zealand sharemarket dived on Thursday as fear gripped global markets, and further bad news from Allied Farmers and a bleak outlook statement from Steel and Tube added to investors' woes.

The sharemarket closed 0.96 percent lower with the benchmark NZSX-50 down 29.1 points at 3,006.91, and a turnover of 58.77 million NZ dollars (41.89 million U.S. dollars).

Concerns about the fragile global economic recovery have heightened recently as a set of economic data in the U.S. and China shows the world's major economies may be losing growth steam.

Editor: Liu

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