Asian Shares Break Gaining Streak On Lower Metal, Oil Rates

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - Shares in Asian markets closed lower, erasing gains from the previous day, on Thursday on reports that earnings in the oil, metal and chip industry will weaken amid deteriorating economy of the region.

Car makers in the region also lost the gains from last week after General Motors received its first bailout funds amid consistent drop noted in sales over the last few months.

Oil futures was trading below $43-a-barrel mark as a light sweet crude-futures barrel for February delivery moved down by 19 cents to $42.44 a barrel in Singapore's electronic trading on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the contract reversed the upward momentum and plunged by as much as $5.95 or 12 percent to end at $42.63 a barrel, which is the largest one-day percentage drop in over seven years, on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid rising gasoline stockpiles in the United States.

In currency trading, the yen strengthened and changed hands at 91.56 yen against U.S. dollar in Asia on Thursday, after it closed at 92.82 yen late Wednesday in New York.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average closed lower by 362.82 points or 3.93 percent at 8,876.42 points led by automakers, while the broader Topix index closed higher by 3.1 percent to 860.89 points.

Shares of Honda Motor dropped by as much as 2.9 percent, Nissan Motor moved down by 3.5 percent and Toyota Motors, Japan's largest car maker, dropped by 1.9 percent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng finished sharply lower by 571.55 points or 3.81 percent at 14,415.91 points led by financial services and insurance companies, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, was down by 5.9 percent to 7,760.02 points.

In the financial sector, Bank of China tumbled by as much as 8.4 percent on reports that the Royal Bank of Scotland may be considering selling its 2 billion pounds stake in the bank.

Shares of Construction Bank of China dropped by 4.4 percent, followed by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China moving down by as much as 6.8 percent.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index also closed 2.3 percent lower to 3,694.30 points in Sydney led by major mining companies of the country.

In the mining sector, shares of Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-biggest mining company, dropped by 6.2 percent, followed by BHP Billiton moving down by 5.7 percent. Woodside Petroleum slumped by 6 percent on lower oil prices.

In China, the Shanghai Composite index also finished lower by 2.4 percent to 1,878.181 points.

Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi closed lower by 1.8 percent at 1,205.70 points in Seoul. In Mumbai, markets were closed for trading due to a holiday.

Taiwan's Taiex index also finished down by 5.3 percent to 4,535.79 points, reversing five-trading-session gains, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing shedding as much as 6.7 percent.