Asia markets mixed

Asia-Pacific equities markets were mixed again on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi index was up only 0.28 percent to 1,908.68 after earlier gains when the Bank of Korea raised interest rates to 5 percent. In Taiwan, the Taiex index added 0.91 percent to 9,182.6. Australia’s equities markets were higher as well, with the Sydney Ordinaries 1.03 percent higher to 6,187.7, while the S&P/ASX200 gained 1.06 percent to 6,165.6. The Shanghai Composite added 1.95 percent to 4,754.1.

Among the day’s losers was the Hang Seng index, which dropped 0.43 percent to 22,439.36 in Hong Kong. Additionally, the Sensex was 1.36 percent lower to 15,100.15 in India. Tokyo’s equities markets were mixed as the Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 percent to 17,170.6 and the Topix index was up 0.9 percent to 1,683.81.

European markets were lower on intensifying worries concerning the subprime sector. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 1.82 percent to 1,526.04. In Madrid the IBEX dropped 1.11 percent to 14,838.3, while the Dax was 2 percent lower to 7,453.59 in Frankfurt and the Paris CAC-40 dropped 5,624.78. The markets in London also saw declines as the FTSE 100 fell 1.92 percent to 6,271.2 and the FTSE 250 was 2 percent lower to 11,225.5.

Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.17 percent lower to 13,497.47. The Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.99 percent to 2,587.07 and the S&P 500 was 1.47 percent lower to 1,475.54.

Crude oil and metals prices were lower, also on worries about the subprime sector as well as on suspicions that oil demand has peaked for the year.

The Japanese yen strengthened as market volatility sent investors out of risky investments.

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