Asian shares were mostly lower Thursday despite positive cues from Wall Street, as profit taking emerged after the recent rebound.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo snuck up 28.86 points, or 0.3%, to 10,335.68
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gave back 111.86 points, or 0.5%, to 20,442.15
Australia's gold stocks fell as sentiment toward the yellow metal was hit after the International Monetary Fund surprised traders by saying it is selling its remaining gold on the open market. Lihir Gold fell 3.1% and Eldorado Gold shed 2.7%.
Qantas Airways dropped 7.4% despite returning to profit in the first half of its fiscal year as earnings were below expectations and the company said it won't pay a dividend given a challenging environment. Funds manager AMP was down 1.4% after its full year earnings came in on the low side of market expectations.
AMP said it remains interested in rival AXA Asia Pacific, fueling speculation it could come back with a higher offer for the wealth management group. AMP is continuing to consider its options after National Australia Bank trumped its offer with a 14.2-billion-Australian-dollar bid for AXA.
Japanese shares lacked conviction as investors digested recent developments and awaited new ones.
The Bank of Japan held its key interest rate steady at 0.1% as widely expected, while maintaining its assessment on the state of the nation's economy. The market is now focusing on what Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will say about the possibility of further easing, such as the expansion of a program introduced in December to lend Y10 trillion in three-month funds to banks at a 0.1% fixed-rate.
Bank stocks in Tokyo were up, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 2.0% higher and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group up 0.6%. Shippers were among the big losers -- Nippon Yusen fell 0.9% and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines dropped 1.0%.
In Hong Kong, bank stocks were moving down on modest profit-taking. ICBC was off 0.7%, China Construction Bank was 0.2% lower and China Merchants Bank fell 1.1%.
In the foreign exchange markets, the euro continued to fall amid lingering concerns over debt-strapped Greece, and worries that the fiscal contagion could spread to Portugal, Spain or even Italy.
The euro was buying $1.3575 against the U.S. dollar, compared with $1.3607 U.S. in late New York trade on Wednesday. Against the yen, the euro was at Y123.49 compared with Y124.10, and the dollar was at Y90.97.
Elsewhere:
Markets in Shanghai and Taiwan were shut down for public holidays.
Korea’s Kospi Index dropped 6.24 points, or 0.4%, to 1,621.19
Singapore’s Straits Times Index faded 24.87 points, or 0.9%, to 2,769.19
New Zealand’s NZX Index lost 9.29 points, or 0.3%, to 3,101.77
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 moved lower 13.14 points, or 0.3%, to 4,654.76
