Asian share markets were mostly lower Wednesday, dragged down by weaker materials shares, with Japan's benchmark stock index edging down after earlier touching an 18-month intraday high on the last day of Japan's fiscal year.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 settled back 7.20 points to 11,089.94
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slipped 135.44 points, or 0.6%, to 21,239.35.
Wednesday marked the last day of the current fiscal year for most Japanese companies. The Nikkei rose nearly 37% from the previous fiscal year -- its first rise in three years. But sentiment faltered in the day's session.
Despite a weaker yen, technology shares were down for much of the session, with TDK Corp. losing 1.0% and Trend Micro Inc.shedding 1.5%. Tire maker Bridgestone Corp. fell 0.3% after news Tuesday that it plans to build its second new tire plant in India.
In the auto sector, Toyota Motor Corp. shares lost 0.7% but Mazda added 4.8%.
In Hong Kong, Bank of Communications Co. surged 4.4%, but fell 0.5% in Shanghai. China's fifth largest lender by assets reported late Tuesday that its fiscal 2009 net profit rose 5.6% on year on higher revenue from fee-based businesses.
Chinese-paper-recycling company Fook Woo Group, China's largest integrated-paper-recycling company, debuted in Hong Kong at 17% above its initial public offering price.
Weakness in materials and bank stocks weighed on the Australian market, where selling accelerated after the Australian Bureau of Statistics said February retail sales fell 1.4% from January, below analysts' expectations for a rise of 0.3%.
BHP Billiton Ltd.was down 1.8%, and Rio Tinto Ltd. fell 1.1%.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia lost 0.9% and Westpac Banking Corp. fell 1%. National Australia Bank ended down 0.7% despite growing expectations that it may no longer need a previously flagged 1.5 billion Australian dollar ($1.38 billion U.S.) capital raising to fund its proposed acquisition of AXA Asia Pacific.
But Macarthur Coal surged 16% to A$14.05 after receiving a A$13-a-share cash offer from Peabody Energy. Macarthur rejected the approach, saying it didn't represent an adequate premium for its shares. Some of bid's shine rubbed off on other coal shares, with Whitehaven Coal adding 4.3% and Centennial Coal up 2.7%.
The South Korean market was supported by gains in the technology sector, although losses in financials and auto makers dragged down the benchmark.
Chip makers rose on expectations of demand for dynamic-random-access memory chips, with Hynix Semiconductor adding 1.1%. Samsung Electronics added 0.5%
But Hyundai Motor fell 0.4%, Kia Motors dropped 1.9 % and Woori Finance Holdings was down 1.2%.
Sentiment was also supported by news that Samsung Life Insurance Co., the country's top life insurer, is seeking to raise up to 5.1 trillion won ($4.5 billion U.S.) in the country's biggest IPO and second-largest offering in Asia so far this year.
In foreign-exchange markets, the U.S. dollar rose to more than a two-month high of 93.57 yen, as buying by domestic importers at the end of Japan's fiscal year encouraged buying from institutional players and speculators. The dollar was buying 93.26 yen, compared with 92.81 yen in late New York trade Tuesday.
CHINA
China shares turned lower on profit-taking, while the launch of the long-awaited trial program for margin trading and short selling on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges failed to excite investors.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index gave back 21.10 points, or 0.6%, to 3,345.61
Elsewhere;
Korea’s Kospi index slid 7.34 points, or 0.4%, to 1,692.85
Singapore’s Straits Times Index moved down 45.93 points, or 1.6%, to 2,887.46
Taiwan’s Taiex Index declined 42.16 points, or 0.5%, to 7,920.06
New Zealand’s NZX Index added 18.34 points, or 0.6%, to 3,267.99
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 41.30 points, or 0.8%, to 4,875.50
