Markets end in red across Asia

Profit selling on a high after latest strong of gains

Asian markets moved lower today, sliding amid a volatile activity in the global currency markets as the traders eyed the weak overnight trades and worries over the Eurozone credit troubles remained in place. The markets did not pay much of an attention to the latest updates from the Asian Development Bank stating that developing Asia's robust recovery from the global crisis is gaining further momentum. In its annual flagship economic publication Asian Development Outlook 2010 Update, the ADB forecast a healthy growth of 8.2% in 2010, well above 5.4% recorded in 2009 and also above ADB's earlier forecast of 7.5%. Markets were more geared towards a downward bias given the selling pressure in risky assets and a recovery in the US dollar from fresh five month lows.



The Japanese stocks closed lower, paring most of the gains from last session as the exporters flipped back their latest gains after the local currency strengthened against the US dollar. The Japanese automakers paced up domestic production in August as consumers rushed out to dealerships to pick up new cars just before government purchasing incentives ended. Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest carmaker by sales volume, said today that it boosted its production in Japan 13.3% on year.

Meanwhile, Nissan Motor, Japan's second-largest player said it lifted its domestic output 24.6% on year in the same month while third-largest Honda Motor said production grew 24.8%. The markets were unruffled by these impressive numbers though and the selling pressure stayed in place throughout the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index lost 107.38 points, or 1.12% to 9,496 while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues shed 6.65 points, or 0.78%, to 843.

In Australia, stocks slipped though amid a very lackluster movement. However, small rises in banking stocks capped falls in the mining sector and the broad markets were also to recover from steep losses. By the end of the day, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 5.6 points, or 0.1% to close at 4669.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index eased 5.2 points, or 0.1% to 4717.

In China, the markets pared some of the gains in the last session as global gloom along with worries about the local property market hurt investor sentiments. China's key stock index, which had hit a two-week closing high in last session, dropped 0.6% to close at 2,611.4.

In Mumbai, the key benchmark indices staged a strong intraday rebound in late trade taking cue recovery in European stocks and US index futures though the markets closed in red in the end. The barometer index BSE Sensex closed above the psychological 20,000 level, having moved above and below that level since afternoon trade. The 50-unit S&P CNX Nifty also regained the crucial 6,000 level after falling below that level in intraday trade. The market breadth was negative, contrasting positive breadth earlier. The BSE 30-share Sensex was provisionally down 12.52 points or 0.05% to 20104.86.

In other markets, the Hang Send Index in Hong Kong dropped 1.03%, Straits Times index in Singapore shed 0.52% while the TSEC index in Taiwan ended marginally lower by 0.03%. Euro turned pale in Asia but rebounded near 1.3500 levels against the US dollar after comments from an ex-Chinese central banker indicated that Dollar could be on the verge of major devaluation. This made the DOW futures gain some traction and lent support to the European stocks as well. However, the sentiments on the whole are still very jittery and commodities, including Gold are reeling lower. Crude oil is down 64 cents at $75.88 per barrel while Gold is down 9 dollar to trade under $1290 per ounce.