Asian share markets ended lower Wednesday after Wall Street gave the thumbs down to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's revised proposal to shore up U.S. banks, though the declines weren't as large as in the U.S. as cautious investors awaited further cues from global markets.
HSBC Holdings and KB Financial Group led banks lower amid a broad regional retreat.
Hong Hong's Hang Seng Index was the worst performer in Asia, dropping 341.43 points, or 2.5% to 13,539.21.
Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.
Elsewhere in the region, chipmakers in Taiwan paced gains after Nanya Technology and its U.S. partner, Micron Technology , submitted a joint proposal to the Taiwanese government on consolidating the island's DRAM industry.
Nanya surged 6.4% and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp jumped 6.2%, while United Microelectronics Corp. rose 2.3% in spite of posting a record loss for the fourth quarter.
Among financials, market heavyweight HSBC Holdings dropped 4.8% in Hong Kong and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group lost 3.5% in Sydney and 1.4% in Wellington. KB Financial gave up 3.8% in Seoul.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 0.9% in Sydney despite booking a jump in bad debts and saying it could not guarantee the level of future dividend payments.
CHINA
Rio Tinto surged 6.2% in Sydney after Aluminum Corp. of China, the latter nation’s biggest producer of the metal, may invest as much as $20 billion U.S. in the world’s third-largest mining company to gain more access to commodities, to quote a source close to the matter.
Singapore Airlines gained 3.6% in afternoon trading after its better-than-forecast third-quarter results a day earlier, while Neptune Orient Lines fell 2.4% after it swung to a net loss for the fourth quarter - its first loss in six years - amid a downturn in the container shipping industry.
Elsewhere:
China’s Shanghai Composite Index picked up 4.38 points, or 0.2% to 2,331.14
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 18.68 points, or 1.1%, to 1,721.97
Taiwan’s Taiex Index advanced 49.85 points or 1.1%, to 4,575.95
South Korea’s Kospi lost 8.69 points or 0.7% to 1,190.18
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index subsided 19.82 points or 0.7% to 2,730.22
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 14.30 points or 0.4% to 3,474.40
