Asian markets fall after Wall Street losses

HONG KONG: Asia markets mostly fell yesterday following a retreat on Wall Street fuelled by profit-taking, with Tokyo hit by a stronger yen and Sydney dipping after data showed Australia’s economy grew slower than expected last year.

With few trading cues investors are keeping a watch on the start of China’s annual parliament meeting Thursday as well as European Central Bank details on its new bond-purchase scheme.

Tokyo lost 0.59%, or 111.56 points, to 18,703.60, Sydney, which ended at a seven-month high Monday, fell 0.54%, or 32.3 points, to 5,901.6 and Seoul lost 0.15%, 3.09 points, to 1,998.29.

Hong Kong fell 0.96%, or 237.40 points, to 24,465.38 but Shanghai rose 0.51%, or 16.48 points, to 3,279.53.

“The lack of fresh sparks has prompted investors to take profits and wait for new signals,” Matthew Sherwood, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Perpetual Ltd., told Bloomberg News.

Dealers took their lead from New York, where the three main indexes -- which have been on a six-year bull run -- ticked downwards after hitting key levels.

The Dow fell 0.47% and the S&P 500 slipped 0.45%, both a day after hitting new records. The Nasdaq slipped 0.56% after breaking 5,000 points for the first time in 15 years.

Tokyo led Asia’s losers as the yen recovered slightly from recent losses against the dollar, with the greenback easing to 119.67 yen from 119.74 yen in New York Tuesday afternoon.

The euro bought $1.1171 and 133.68 yen against $1.1178 and 133.85 yen.

In Australia, official figures showed the economy grew 0.5% on-quarter in the three months to December and 2.5% over the whole of 2014 -- below forecasts of 0.7% and 2.6% respectively.

The news comes a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia held off cutting interest rates for a second-straight month, but analysts say it will likely act again soon as jobless queues become longer and consumers stop spending.

Focus will next turn to the meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, at which Premier Li Keqiang is expected to deliver an address on the state of the economy.

Oil prices were mixed ahead of the release of a key US energy inventory report later in the day. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose eight cents to $50.60 while Brent crude eased 31 cents to $60.71. Prices rose Tuesday on news of growing unrest in exporter Libya. Gold fetched $1,205.23 against $1,207.80 late Tuesday.