Asian equities mixed as Japan stocks suffer

Asian equities markets were mixed on Thursday.

In Tokyo, the markets fell to a 2-week low on news of an economic growth forecast for the US that was revised downward, a higher inflation estimate for the US, and ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan’s remarks before Congress.

Export-oriented stocks were down as figures showed that export volumes have been down on a year-to-year basis for three out of the past four months.

Technology stocks and the automobile manufacturing sector were down, taking the Nikkei 225 down 1.1 percent to 11,160 while the Topix index fell 0.9 percent to 1,138.75.

In Manila, the composite index fell 2.8 percent to 1,898.24 on concerns over corruption scandals in the government, the latest of which involves accusations that the Philippine president’s relatives have been accepting gambling payoffs.

The loss comes after the market in Manila had its largest weekly advance in two years. In addition to losses in equities markets, the peso fell to a 2-month low in relation to the US dollar.

The market was down in Taipei as well, as the weighted index fell 0.3 percent to 6,145.92 on profit taking in the technology sector.

The composite index in Shanghai, on the other hand, was up 1.4 percent to 1,131.052. This was on top of an advance of 8.4 percent on Wednesday; that was the largest 1-day advance in Taipei in 3 years.

The market in Seoul was also up, by 1.2 percent to 987.58 as the shipping sector did well on lower oil prices.

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