Most Asian markets ended lower Wednesday, as concerns China may step up its tightening measures to cool a rapidly growing economy hit banking and resource shares hard.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Index lost 27.38 points or 0.3% to 10,737.52
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell back 391.81 points, or 1.8%, to 21,286.17.
Several other regional markets also reversed direction or pared early gains made after a strong finish on Wall Street, after the Chinese banking regulator said the nation's banks were expected to make fewer loans this year than in 2009.
Several mining and metals shares retreated or retraced some early advances on the fall in Shanghai. Alumina dropped 1.9% and Fortescue Metals slipped 0.3% in Sydney, while Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. fell 0.2% in Tokyo. Shares of Angang Steel slumped 5.2% and Yunnan Copper dropped 4.2% in Shenzhen. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. fell 5.1% in Shanghai and Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. sank 3.8% in Hong Kong.
In Tokyo, Japan Airlines dropped by one yen to finish at two yen -- a fresh all-time low -- after the airline filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday.
In Seoul, Samsung Electronics ended up 1.3% after it agreed to pay as much as $900 million U.S. to Rambus over five years, as part of deal to settle litigation focusing on memory chips. Rambus shares were up 13.6% in after-hours trade.
LG Display fell 2.1% ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings report.
Seoul-based LG Display said its net profit for the quarter rose to 478 billion won ($420 million U.S.), reversing from a year-earlier loss of 684 billion won, though slipping from the third quarter's 559-billion-won profit.
Wipro shares fell 1.6% in afternoon trading on profit-taking after its strong recent gains, although the software developer posted a better-than-expected growth in fiscal third-quarter net profit.
Supply and trading firm Toyota Tsusho, which is 21.8% owned by Toyota Motor, jumped 6% after it secured low-cost loans from the Japanese government to take a stake in an Argentinean lithium project that could begin commercial production by 2012.
In foreign exchange markets, the euro was sharply lower as renewed fears over Chinese tightening measures pressured the risk-sensitive unit. The drop also came amid a backdrop of continued concerns over Greece's fiscal health as well as Germany's ZEW economic expectations index, which fell for the fourth month in a row.
The euro was at $1.4186 U.S. from $1.4302 U.S. in late New York trade Tuesday, and at 128.96 yen from 130.29 yen. The dollar was at 90.88 yen from 91.15 yen.
CHINA
The Shanghai 300 Composite Index slid 113.05 points, or 3.2%, to 3,394.43
Banks led the decline after the state-run China Securities Journal reported, citing several unnamed sources, the China Banking Regulatory Commission has asked several commercial banks to stop issuing new loans in the remaining days of January.
China's top banking regulator Liu Mingkang denied the report, but said Chinese banks were expected to issue about 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion U.S.) in new loans in 2010 compared to 9.59 trillion yuan in 2009, reflecting efforts to rein in bank lending which nearly doubled last year.
Bank of China lost 1.7% in Shanghai and 3.4% in Hong Kong, following a Dow Jones Newswires report citing an unnamed official that the lender had ordered its credit officials to stop making new yuan loans after a strong growth in lending thus far in January.
Among other major lenders, China Construction Bank Corp. fell 2.4% and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China lost 2.6% in Shanghai; in Hong Kong, they skidded 3.1% and 2.6%, respectively.
Several economists are anticipating that economic data due Thursday would show China's fourth-quarter economic growth has topped 10% from the year-earlier quarter.
Elsewhere:
Korea’s Kospi Index was 4.16 points, or 0.2%, higher to 1,714.38
Taiwan’s Taiex index dropped 28.07 points, or 0.3%, to 8,220.93
Singapore’s Straits Times index subtracted 19.79 points, or 0.7%, to 2,893.13
New Zealand’s NZX Index retreated 0.34 points to 3,227.25
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained seven points, or 0.1%, to 4,868.20
