Investors booked some profit made recently due to lack of obvious catalysts as markets in New York and London were closed on Monday for public holidays.
Meanwhile, flaring tensions between China and Vietnam over a territorial dispute also sparked profit taking. Vietnamese state media reported that a Chinese fishing vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat in the South China Sea, where the countries have overlapping territorial claims. Tensions rocketed this month after China sent an oil rig into seas near disputed islands. With Thailand in the midst of a military coup and China at odds with Vietnam and other neighbours, investors are feeling cautious.
However, hopes of easier monetary policy from European Central Bank helped to limit downfall. ECB President Mario Draghi said policy makers are ready to ease monetary policy if necessary. Dovish comments from ECB president Mario Draghi are serving to underpin the consensus among global investors that the world's major central banks will remain highly accommodative for some time yet - a view that has long been supporting both equity and fixed income assets.
Among Asian bourses, Australian share market closed the session virtually flat in extremely quiet trade, due to lack of supporting cues from offshore markets overnight and mixed showing from blue chip stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 edged down 1.10 points to 5511.70, while the broader All Ordinaries eked out a 0.40 point gain to 5490.80. Volumes were unusually low with less than A$3.1 billion worth of shares changed hands.
Ozforex Group (OFX) shares declined 19% to A$2.65 after missing key metrics outlined in its prospectus. OFX announced that excluding one-off items and expenses related to its stock market listing last October, in addition to a failed takeover attempt of UK-based competitor HiFX, pro forma net profit rose 33.3% to A$20.8 million. The pro forma result was 8.1% above Oz Forex's prospectus forecast of A$18.6 million. However, OFX missed key growth indicators outlined in its prospectus including the number of new dealing clients and the number of active clients.
ALS shares jumped 8.9% to A$7.96 after laboratory testing service provider unexpectedly met its full year profit guidance. ALS also increased its dividend pay-out ratio to 86% to support a rise in the final dividend to 20 cents, which is a positive signal management expect conditions to continue to improve
Suncorp shares dropped 2% to A$13.42 after the insurance and regional banking group flagged a A$500 million write-down in its life insurance business.
Telstra Corp shares lost 0.4% to A$5.32 as UBS confirmed a 'sell' recommendation on the stock, which began the week trading at a nine-year high, saying it is too expensive.
Rio Tinto rose 0.4% to A$61.21 as it unveiled a $US20 billion (A$21.6 billion) investment accord with the government of Guinea to develop an iron ore mine, rail and port project.
Shares of Technology One jumped 7.3% to A$2.65 after posting a 14% lift in net profits for the six months to March 31 and lifted its interim dividend to 1.95 cents per share
In Japan, Japanese share market advanced for fourth consecutive session today, reaching a seven-week high, on the back of yen depreciation against the greenback and European Central Bank confirmation to provide more monetary policy supports in June. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 34 points to finish at 14636.52, the highest finish since April 7, while the Topix index of all first-section shares, eked out 0.42 point gain to 1195.11.
Olympus Corp was up 2.2% to 3305 yen after SMBC Nikko Securities reaffirmation of its Outperform rating, citing ongoing benefits from new endoscope models and aggressive plans to boost the sales force for the company's surgical business.
Fuji Heavy Industries added 1% to 2661 yen after the firm's chief financial officer said that the firm expects to post aggregate operating profits for the next three years of some Y1 trillion--up to Y200 billion more than its initial projections.
Oriental Land rose 0.6% after a Nomura Securities upgrade its rating on Tokyo Disneyland operator to Buy from Neutral with a target price of Y19300 from Y17800. The brokerage touted higher-than-projected attendance after Tokyo Disneyland's 30th anniversary and returns from billions in new capital investments as factors behind its upgrade.
In China, Mainland China share market declined for the first time in six consecutive sessions, as profit taking emerged following recent rally, with shares of industrial and material companies leading retreat. The benchmark Shanghai Composite ended 6.91 points higher at 2034.57, on turnover of 55.92 billion yuan.
Shares of industrial and material companies both dropped on profit booking. Shanxi Coal International Energy Group Co. (600546) lost 1.8% and BBMG Corp., a cement producer, retreated 2.2% before the government announces industrial company earnings tomorrow.
Shares of Xinjiang related companies surged on media reports that China will take special measures to support development of southern Xinjiang. Xinjiang Talimu Agriculture jumped by the daily limit. Xinjiang Qingsong Building Materials & Chemicals Group Co. rallied 9.2%.
Inspur Electronic Information (000977) climbed 4.7% on speculation banks will replace some servers made by International Business Machines Corp. with local brands. The unit of Inspur Group surged 29% over five days through yesterday on reports Chinese government is pushing domestic banks to remove high-end servers made by IBM and replace them with a local brand, in an escalation of the dispute with the U.S. over spying claims.
In Hong Kong, HK share market ended lower in narrow and quiet trade due to lack of obvious catalysts as markets in New York and London were closed on Monday for public holidays. The benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 18.88 points to 22944.30 on of HK$42.38 billion.
The HK government reportedly is studying to cut the number of Chinese tourist arrivals under the individual visitor scheme (IVS). Sectors that derive incomes from the IVS bore the brunt. Wharf (00004) dipped 3% to HK$53.15. Hysan (00014) fell 3.5% to HK$35.5. Chow Tai Fook (01929), Sa Sa (00178) and Bonjour (00653) retreated between 2.3% and 3.8%.
Chinese lenders softened on news that the Big Four only granted RMB130bn new loans in May, CCB (00939), ICBC (01398), ABC (01288) and BOC (03988) inched down 0.2% to 0.6%. CM Bank (03968) fell 1.7% to HK$13.78. CEB Bank (06818) slipped 1.2% to HK$3.35.
CSPC Pharmaceutical dropped 6.7% to HK$6.28. Joyful Horizon agreed to sell a 105.9 million share stake in the firm to a company owned by CSPC's chairman and 600 million shares to other unnamed parties at HK$6.25 each.
Inspur climbed 9.4% to HK$1.52 on reports the Chinese government is pushing domestic banks to remove high-end servers made by IBM and replace them with a local brand, in an escalation of the dispute with the U.S. over spying claims.
In India, key benchmark indices declined or a second consecutive session due to profit-booking by funds and retail investors in recent outperformers, with shares of property developers, energy and consumer durables companies leading losses.
The benchmark BSE Sensex provisionally closed 0.68% lower at 24,549.51 points, while the broader Nifty provisionally ended 0.56% down at 7,318 points.
The S&P BSE Sensex has run up sharply so far in the year 2014, up over 18%, on the hopes of a stable and reform-oriented government at the Centre and strong inflow from foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
PSU bank stocks declined. State Bank of India (SBI) (down 2.71%), Canara Bank (down 5%), Bank of India (down 4.09%) and Bank of Baroda (down 2.89%) declined. Union Bank of India rose 1.01%.
GAIL (India) dropped 7.34% to Rs 379.95 as its Q4 results fell short of market expectations. The company's net profit rose 57.24% to Rs 972.03 crore on 17.56% rise in total income to Rs 14977.89 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013.
Bharat Forge rose 7.47% after net profit jumped 137.57% to Rs 118.98 crore on 38.53% growth in total income to Rs 963.12 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. The result was announced during market hours today, 27 May 2014.
TV18 Broadcast rose 4.88% after consolidated net profit jumped 107.51% to Rs 35.90 crore on 16.50% increase in total income to Rs 572.25 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. The result was announced during trading hours today, 27 May 2014.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, Taiwan's Taiex index rose 0.21%. South Korea's KOSPI index was down 0.63%. New Zealand's NZX50 fell 0.15%. Singapore's Straits Times index dropped 0.27%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.18%. Malaysia's KLSE Composite rose 0.26%.
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