Asian stocks closed on a mostly weaker note Thursday, with shares in South Korea among the leading decliners after its central bank raised lending rates, noting the highest inflation in a decade remains at the forefront of its concerns even though economic growth is decelerating.
South Korea's Kospi index fell 0.9% to 1,564.00, as shares of tech bellwether Samsung Electronics closed down 1.5%.
Earlier in the day, the Bank of Korea hiked its 7-day repo rate for August by 0.25-percentage point to 5.25%, the first increase in a year and the highest level since February 2001.
In other economic news, South Korean consumer confidence decreased for the third straight month in July as fears of economic slowdown and skyrocketing commodity prices increased pessimism over the economy. The National Statistical Office reported that the consumer confidence index decreased to 84.6 in July from 86.8 in June.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 129.90 points or 0.98% at 13,124.99 while the benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 154.45 points or 0.7% to finish at 22,104.20, off a high of 22,424.54.
Before the market opened today, the Cabinet Office said that Japan's core private-sector machinery orders fell by a better-than-expected 2.6% on month in June and forecast a 3.0% on-quarter decline for the September quarter.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group plunged 3.9%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group plummeted 3.2% and Mizuho Financial Group tumbled 3.5%. General leasing firm Orix lost 1.1% and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance fell 2.7%.
Exporters were mixed, with Toyota Motor losing 1.3%, Canon slipping 0.4%, Sony falling 1.2% and machinery maker Komatsu gaining 0.6%. Honda Motor closed unchanged. Property counters also ended mixed. Mitsubishi Estate lost 1.8% and Mitsui Fudosan dropped 2.5%, but Sumitomo Realty and Development gained 2.6%.
In the tech space, Advantest declined 1.3%, NEC plunged 3.5%, Kyocera gave away 2.0% and Matsushita Electrical Industrial declined 2.3%. Fanuc gained 2.3% and Fujitsu closed unchanged. Oil explorer Inpex Holdings surged 6.3%, Nippon Oil advanced 2.3% and Nippon Mining Holdings edged up 0.3%.
Nikon rallied 4.9% after the company said Wednesday that it is planning to invest 35 billion yen over the next three years to more than double its output of chip-making machines.
The Chinese market gained 0.3% on Thursday, extending its gains for a second trading session, led by property developers. Financial shares were hit on profit taking following strong gains on Wednesday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 8.21 points at 2,727.58.
Property developer China Vanke rose 1.4% after hitting a 15-month low on Wednesday, while COFCO Property climbed 1.4% and Poly Real Estate Group advanced 0.6%.
In the financial sector, China Life Insurance dropped 0.8%, Huaxia Bank plunged 3.3% despite reporting that net profit in the first half of 2008 jumped 91%. The bank had previously announced it expected a profit rise of at least 90%.
Sinopec jumped 2.6% and index heavyweight PetroChina moved up 0.5%.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed flat at 7,024.
Singapore's STI closed down 1.8% at 2,834.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 0.4% at 1,129.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index closed up 0.5% at 2,199.
India's Sensex closed up 0.3% at 15,117.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.2% to 4,983.30.
New Zealand's NZX-50 gained 0.8% to 3,378.89.
with files from other wire services
