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Asia's big three decline
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December 28, 1998: 5:29 a.m. ET
Hong Kong dips 1.2 percent as Japan and Singapore also post losses
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LONDON (CNNfn) - The three major Asian markets drifted lower in thin volume Monday, as traders looked set to stay on the sidelines until the new year. Hong Kong ended down 1.2 percent, Japan closed 0.6 percent lower and Singapore finished off 0.8 percent.
After Wall Street posted only modest gains Christmas Eve and Japan advanced just a little Christmas Day, the region's markets made no major moves.
The dog of the day was Taiwan, which dived 3 percent by its close. The star was Korea, which added 1.28 percent by the end of play in Seoul.
Thailand moved 1.16 percent ahead while Malaysia added 0.7 percent. Indonesia closed 0.4 percent lower.
The Philippines finished with little change while Australia was closed.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended the day 122.06 points lower at 10,170.14.
Heavyweight HSBC Holdings was no help to the index. It fell HK$4 to HK$195. Flag carrier Cathay Pacific lost 25 cents to HK$7.5.
China Telecom did better, adding 15 cents to close at HK$13.5.
Like most red chips Shanghai Industrial moved lower, shedding 20 cents to HK$15.75.
Holding company Guoco accounted for a tenth of the day's HK$1.22 billion turnover. It finished up 70 cents at HK$13.75.
The company said in a statement that its subsidiary Dao Heng Bank is in talks to buy a stake in Kwong On Bank. Dao Heng ended down 40 cents at HK$23.5 in much lower volume.
"Stripping out Guoco, trade did not have many features today," said Core Pacific Yamaichi sales director Terry Cheung.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei average closed down 88.89 points at 13,709.06 in very low volume.
Oil stocks led the market down, falling 2.88 percent, but blue chips were lower across the board. Real estate stocks dropped 1.25 percent while banks as a sector ended down 0.26 percent.
The only real news to concern the market - though it had only a limited impact on the prices - was reports that Mitsui Trust is to sell 50 percent of its equity holdings over the next four years for $13 billion.
"People are thinking if Mitsui Trust is thinking about doing it Mitsubishi and Yasuda could be thinking about doing it as well," said Robert Sasaki, head of Jardine Fleming's quantitative strategy group.
"The aim is to insulate it from falling share prices. Some people are looking at it as good news. The job of financial institutions should be to lend, not to own equities."
Mitsui ended down 1.5 percent at 132 yen.
Sumitomo Bank and Sanwa Bank also headed lower. Both lost about 1 percent to 1,191 yen and 891 yen respectively.
Mazda Motor was another decliner, losing 2.7 percent to 431 yen. On the plus side Tokyu Construction climbed 2.33 percent to 88 yen on news of a restructuring plan.
Elsewhere, activity in the region was almost dead. "The only real news was that the Korea government is going to inject some money into some of the banks," said Robert Subbaraman, Lehman Brothers analyst for south-east Asia and Australia.
Korea closed 1.28 percent higher at 562.46.
Singapore stocks lost 11.48 points to close at 1,381.27. Blue chips traded within a very narrow range.
Heavyweight Singapore Press Holdings lost 10 cents to S$17.8 while multi-media stock Creative Technology dipped 20 cents to S$23.3.
Taiwan shed 3 percent but analysts said there was nothing fundamental driving the market.
The Philippines closed unchanged while Indonesia shed 0.42 percent.
Malaysia added 0.69 percent while Thailand jumped 1.16 percent. Australia was closed.
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