Asian markets sank again today after Wall Street was hit by a further fall in oil prices, while the dollar edged up after tumbling against the yen.
Analysts said traders were taking their cash off the table before the end of the year after enjoying a surge over the past few weeks that has been supported by strong US data, Japanese easing measures and hopes for stimulus in China.
Tokyo fell 0.89%, or 155.18 points, to 17,257.40 following a three% decline over the previous two sessions. Sydney gave up 0.53%, or 28.0 points, to close at 5,231.0 while Seoul shed 1.49%, or 28.97 points, to close at 1,916.59.
Shanghai finished 0.49% lower, losing 14.26 points to 2,925.74. Hong Kong shed 0.90%, or 211.98 points, to end the day at 23,312.54.
In New York, the Dow and S&P 500, which last week ended at record highs, retreated following a pullback in petroleum plays that came after Opec lowered its demand forecast for 2015 and the US revealed its stockpiles surged.
The Dow fell 1.51%, the S&P 500 sank 1.64% and the Nasdaq slipped 1.73%.
However, oil prices edged up slightly in Asia after tumbling to new five-year lows Wednesday. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery rose 13 cents to US$61.07 while Brent crude was up 26 cents at US$64.30 in afternoon trade.
WTI dropped US$2.88 in New York, while Brent lost US$2.60 in London.
Crude has plunged around 40% since June on the back of an oversupply in global markets, which was exacerbated by Opec's output decision last month.
On foreign exchange markets, the dollar ticked up to 118.07 yen in afternoon trade after sinking to as low as 117.44 yen at one point as traders, spooked by the equities selling, looked for safer investments. The yen is considered a haven in times of turmoil.
The greenback is still well down from the seven-year-high of 121.84 yen seen Monday.
"Large overseas hedge funds and other hedged investors are making their year-end position adjustments, booking profits after going long on the dollar and Nikkei futures and shorting the yen," Eiji Kinouchi, chief technical strategist at Daiwa Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro slipped to 146.43 at one point early Thursday before bouncing back to 147.19 yen. It sat at 146.68 in US trade. The single currency was also at US$1.2470 against US$1.2446 in New York.
In Hong Kong, dealers are keeping an eye on the streets as police and bailiffs clear the main pro-democracy site after more than two months of occupation.
Gold was at US$1,221.25 an ounce compared with US$1,204.67 late Tuesday.
In other markets, Bangkok fell 2.10%, or 32.75 points, to 1,526.81.
Jakarta ended down 0.25%, or 12.71 points, at 5,152.70.
Kuala Lumpur slipped 1.19%, or 20.95 points, to close at 1,744.57.
Manila sank 1.44%, or 102.98 points, to 7.072.10.
Mumbai fell 0.82%, or 229.09 points, to end at 27,602.01 points.
Singapore closed down 0.21%, or 7.11 points, to 3,318.70.
Taipei lost 0.21%, or 19.09 points, to end at 9,013.07.
Wellington fell 0.39%, or 21.51 points, to 5,502.07. – AFP, December 11, 2014.
