HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell on Thursday and the euro slipped as concerns over the eurozone debt crisis refused to abate, ahead of an auction of long-term Italian debt.
With trading light due to the Christmas holidays, Asia also had little cue for direction from Wall Street and Europe despite Rome enjoying a successful sale of short-term bonds on Wednesday.
Tokyo shed 0.29 percent, or 24.73 points, to end at 8,398.89 while Sydney fell 0.43 percent, or 17.7 points, to 4,071.1.
Hong Kong fell 0.65 percent, or 120.75 points, to 18,397.92.
Seoul was flat, edging up 0.62 points to 1,825.74 on the market's last trading day of the year, while Shanghai staged an afternoon spurt to end 0.16 percent, or 3.55 points, up at 2,173.56.
Japanese exporters were hurt as the yen surged to its highest level against the euro since June 2001, with dealers nervous ahead of the Italian bond sale.
Markets took scant relief from Italy's auction Wednesday of 9.0 billion euros ($11.8 billion) in six-month bonds at low rates, with broader eurozone worries still dominating trade.
After Asian markets closed, Italy raised 7.0 billion euros ($9.0 billion) in for a 10-year bond issue with interest rates held below the danger threshold of 7.0 percent, suggesting improved market confidence.
The amount raised however fell below a maximum sought of 8.5 billion euros and the rate on bonds due in 2021 was at 6.7 percent -- higher than the level of 5.77 percent for the last similar sale in October.
News that eurozone banks deposited a record amount of overnight funds at the European Central Bank on Tuesday -- breaking the record set the day before -- indicated lingering tensions in the single-currency zone.
Banks put 452.03 billion euros on deposit for 24 hours at the ECB overnight Tuesday, beating the previous record of 411.8 billion euros set Monday.
Rising levels of deposits are seen as a sign of market tension, with heavy use of the facility suggesting banks favour parking the money at low interest rates rather than lending to each other.
The huge amounts indicate banks are hoarding cash after more than 500 of them last week borrowed a record 489.2 billion euros from the ECB in a new three-year lending facility.
European stocks mostly fell in morning trade Thursday with London's FTSE 100 sliding 0.11 percent to 5,501.36 points, the Paris CAC 40 dipping 0.11 percent to 3,067.79 points, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.20 percent to 5,782.16.
On currency markets, the European single unit was at 100.42 yen, compared with 100.80 in New York late Wednesday, while it was trading at $1.2902 compared with with $1.2912 in New York.
Earlier Thursday the euro had touched an 11-month low against the dollar of $1.2888.
The dollar was standing at 77.83 yen, from 77.90 in New York.
Oil was down. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, fell 23 cents to $99.39 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for February delivery was down 34 cents to $107.54 a barrel.
Gold stood at $1,528.10 an ounce at 1120 GMT, compared with $1,588.26 late Wednesday.
In other markets:
-- Singapore gained 0.24 percent, or 6.53 points, to 2,672.78.
United Overseas Bank gained 0.65 percent to Sg$15.54 and Neptune Orient Lines gained 0.88 percent to Sg$1.15
-- Taipei edged up 0.26 percent, or 18.15 points, to end at 7,074.82.
Hon Hai rose 0.48 percent to Tw$82.9 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.13 percent higher at Tw$75.8.
-- Mumbai shares slid 1.17 percent, or 183.92 points, to 15,543.93.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 4.0 percent to 709 rupees while India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki fell 3.38 percent to 928 rupees.
-- Manila, which is closed Friday for a public holiday, ended 0.81 percent higher, adding 35.33 points to 4,371.96.
Banco de Oro ended up 0.9 percent at 59 pesos, Philippine Long Distance Telephone rose 1.0 percent to 2,542 pesos and Globe Telephone was up 4.9 percent at 1,133 pesos.
-- Wellington rose 0.29 percent, adding 9.35 points, to end at 3,246.25.
Telecom was flat at NZ$2.05, while Fletcher Building added 1.0 percent to NZ$6.06 and Contact climbed 0.97 percent to NZ$5.22.
-- Jakarta rose 1.05 percent, or 39.56 points, to 3,808.77.
Car maker Astra International rose 1.0 percent to Rp 74,000, Bank Mandiri gained 1.5 percent to Rp 6,700 and cigarette maker Gudang Garam rose 2.8 percent to Rp 61,750.
-- Bangkok lost 0.42 percent, or 4.28 points, to 1,023.91.
Banpu dropped 0.37 percent to 538.00 baht, while PTT closed unchanged at 317.00.
-- Kuala Lumpur added 0.17 percent, or 2.58 points, to close at 1,506.69.
RHB Capital rose 2.4 percent to 7.30 ringgit, Gamuda added 2.1 percent to 3.37 ringitt and CIMB Group Holdings gained 0.9 percent to 7.16 ringgit.
