Asia stocks fall after previous day’s rally

Asian markets mostly fell yesterday as profit-taking after the previous day’s rallies overshadowed another strong performance on Wall Street. Tokyo fell 1.43%, or 125.68 points, to 8,669.87, Sydney was 0.18%, or 7.6 points, lower at 4,199.1, while Seoul was virtually unchanged, nudging down 0.03 points to 1,822.93. Hong Kong finished 0.42% higher, adding 81.75 points to 19,640.80 and Shanghai lost 0.74%, or 16.20 points, to end at 2,168.64. Shares on Japan’s Nikkei remained under pressure after the yen strengthened in New York against the greenback while it continued to stay strong against the euro. And Shanghai was pressured after reports that China has ordered local governments to strictly implement property control measures and rectify easing policies that have been introduced after a rebound in prices in June. Dealers took the last day of the week to cash in after Thursday’s advances that came in the wake of hopes for another US stimulus drive as well as strong corporate results. On currency markets the dollar bought ¥78.57, from 78.59 in New York on Thursday, when it slipped 0.3% against the Japanese unit on the back of the weak economic data. The euro was at $1.2260 and ¥96.34 in Tokyo, compared with $1.2282 and ¥96.43 in New York. Gold was at $1,581.20 an ounce at 1030 GMT, from $1,584.20 on Thursday. In other markets, Singapore closed 0.44%, or 13.43 points, lower at 3,015.53, Taipei gained 0.23%, or 16.11 points, to 7,164.68, while Manila closed 0.41% higher, adding 21.52 points to 5,210.89. Wellington closed 0.63%, or 22.07 points, to 3,463.70, Jakarta fell 0.37%, or 15points, to 4,081.20, Kuala Lumpur fell 0.10%, or 1.60 points, to 1,643.00 and Bangkok fell 0.36% or 4.41 points to 1,208.55. from gulf times.