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Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday with Tokyo pressured by a plunge in shares of Japan Airlines, amid fears Asia's biggest carrier may file for bankruptcy.
Tokyo ended its final trading session of the year down 0.86 percent. However the index was up 19.0 percent over 2009, having tumbled 42.1 percent in 2008.
Hong Kong ended flat in thin holiday trade, while Sydney slipped 0.24 percent.
Seoul pushed 0.62 percent higher despite earlier losses on news South Korea's eighth largest conglomerate Kumho Asiana would place two troubled units under a debt workout programme to try to avert a liquidity crisis.
Shanghai was the region's strongest performer, powering 1.58 percent ahead with banks driving momentum on continued hopes for strong earnings reports following robust lending this year.
Investors also mulled fresh US data that showed rising consumer sentiment and home prices falling at a slower pace. However, Wall Street responded by closing flat overnight in thin trading, ending a six-day winning streak.
Markets in the Philippines were closed for a public holiday.
TOKYO: Down 0.86 percent. The Nikkei-225 index fell 91.62 points to 10,546.44 on the last trading day of 2009.
"Investors won't carry over positions into the new year, as they are wary of newsflow during the holiday break," Mizuho Securities market analyst Yukio Takahashi told Dow Jones Newswires.
The Tokyo stock market will reopen on January 4.
Shares in Japan Airlines plunged 23.9 percent to 67 yen on growing fears that the troubled carrier might file for bankruptcy, dealers said.
The shares slid to 60 yen at one point, the lowest level since JAL merged with Japan Air System Co. in 2002.
JAL's woes hit big bank shares. The Nikkei business daily reported that the airline owes Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial each about 50 billion yen, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial exposure is about 30 billion yen.
Mizuho dropped 0.6 percent to 166 yen, Mitsubishi UFJ ended down 0.4 percent at 452 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui shed 0.4 percent to 2,645 yen.
HONG KONG: Flat. The Hang Seng Index edged down 2.82 points, or 0.01 percent, to close at 21,496.62.
A decline in mainland banks offset gains by heavyweight China Mobile, which rose after it denied media reports that said the government's probe on its vice chairman would affect its domestic listing plans.
China Mobile rose 1.0 percent to 70.35 Hong Kong dollars.
Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa ended 2.5 percent higher at 52.40.
Chinese state banks fell further on concerns about the possible introduction of government policies to curb booming asset prices.
China Construction Bank lost 1.22 percent to 6.48, while ICBC fell 0.9 percent to 6.35.
SYDNEY: Down 0.24 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 11.8 points to 4,833.3.
The big four banks were mixed with ANZ up 0.18 percent to 22.74 dollars and NAB 0.07 percent better at 27.20, while Westpac fell 0.51 percent to 25.27 and Commonwealth dropped 0.15 percent to 54.42.
Major Anglo-Australian miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both lost out, dropping 0.51 percent to 42.70 and 0.30 percent to 74.64 respectively.
Qantas Airways fell 1.35 percent to 2.93, top telco Telstra was flat at 3.41 and supermarket chain Woolworths slipped 0.29 percent to 27.59.
SHANGHAI: Up 1.58 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was up 50.84 points at 3,262.60.
Bank of Communications surged 6.6 percent to 9.18 yuan, China Citic Bank jumped 5.9 percent to 8.29 and China Merchants Bank gained 5.0 percent to 18.02.
Heavyweight oil companies were also among the day's big gainers after an increase in crude prices. PetroChina rose 1.9 percent to 13.81 yuan and Sinopec gained 3.1 percent to 14.14.
Brokerages gained on expectations that China could soon launch much-awaited stock index futures, which analysts said would likely draw more funds into the domestic stock market.
Citic Securities rose 2.3 percent to 31.49 yuan, Haitong Securities gained 1.8 percent to 19.14 and Guoyuan Securities ended up 3.2 percent at 21.21.
SEOUL: Up 0.62 percent. The KOSPI ended up 10.29 points at 1,682.7 on the last trading day of the year.
The market started the day in negative terrain, pulled down by units of the liquidity-squeezed Kumho group and by banks.
Creditor banks said near the market close they had agreed with the group to restructure debts for Kumho Tire and Kumho Industrial.
Two other units, Korea Kumho Petrochemical and Asiana Airlines, would get more time for debt repayment.
Kumho Tire plunged by the daily limit of 14.98 percent to 3,605 won. Kumho Industrial also fell by the daily limit to 8,330 won.
Samsung rose 1.65 percent to 799,000 won and smaller rival Hynix Semiconductor surged 4.28 percent to 23,150.
TAIPEI: Up 0.73 percent. The weighted index rose 58.45 points to 8,112.28.
Gainers led losers by 1,735 to 1,082 with 308 stocks unchanged.
The steel sector rose 1.6 percent, with China steel up 0.8 percent to 32.05 Taiwan dollars on an anticipated price hike next year.
LED maker Lite-On Technology was limit-up 7.0 percent at 48.20, after it said demand would be steady over the next 18 months.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co rose 0.95 percent to 63.90 and United Microelectronics Corp gained 0.89 percent to 17.05.
SINGAPORE: Up 0.35 percent. The Straits Times Index rose 10.00 points to 2,879.76.
Among the banks, DBS was unchanged at 15.30, United Overseas Bank climbed 22 cents to 19.68 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp gained four cents to 9.08.
In the property sector, CapitaLand advanced five cents to 4.20, Keppel Land rose two cents to 3.51 and City Developments moved six cents up to 11.46.
Singapore Airlines jumped 18 cents to 14.88 and Singapore Telecom was a cent higher at 3.10.
BANGKOK: Down 1.03 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index fell 7.62 points to close at 734.54 points.
KUALA LUMPUR: Down 0.32 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 4.10 points to close at 1,271.12.
JAKARTA: Up 0.61 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index gained 15.36 points to 2,534.36.
Bank Mandiri gained 2.2 percent to 4,700 rupiah, bank BCA rose 2.7 percent to 4,850, while car maker Astra increased 2.2 percent to 34,700.
Coal miner Bumi Resources fell 3.0 percent to 2,425.
Financial markets will be closed Thursday and Friday for public holidays.
Trading resumes on Monday.
WELLINGTON: Down 0.13 percent. The NZX-50 index dropped 4.22 points to 3,220.91.
There was little movement in offshore markets to stimulate trade, while news that sweetener company BioVittoria fell short in its bid to float on the exchange was disappointing, dealers said.
Telecom ended three cents down at 2.50 dollars, Contact Energy was up one cent at 6.10 and Fletcher Building closed unchanged at 8.00.
Transport stocks eased with Mainfreight down 10 cents to 5.55 and Freightways ended one cent off at 3.41.
MUMBAI: Down 0.33 percent. The 30-share benchmark Sensex ended a day of choppy trade down 57.74 points at 17,343.82.
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Japan unveils ambitious economic growth strategy
Japan's prime minister unveiled an ambitious goal Wednesday to create millions of jobs and return Asia's biggest economy to steady growth as he battles a drop in his popularity and a funding scandal.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said his three-month-old government aimed to create 4.76 million jobs by 2020. He set a target of annual economic growth of more than two percent, adjusted for price changes, over the next decade.
"I'm determined to accomplish this," he told a news conference.
But the government was vague about exactly how he would achieve the lofty goals, saying it would come up with more concrete measures by around June.
It aims to create new demand worth more than 100 trillion yen (1.1 trillion dollars), seeking to resuscitate the world's second largest economy after its worst recession in decades.
The government has forecast a 2.6 percent contraction in real gross domestic product in the current fiscal year to March 2010.
While in the past, "people served the economy," now the economy needs to benefit the people, Hatoyama said.
"In other words, we have to create demand," he said.
The government hopes 1.4 million jobs will be created in the environment and energy sectors by encouraging development of new technology, such as fuel-efficient cars, along with 2.8 million jobs in the healthcare sector.
It aims to reduce the unemployment rate to about three percent in the medium term.
Japan's jobless rate hit a record 5.7 percent in July. Although it has since retreated somewhat, in November it worsened for the first time in four months, rising to 5.2 percent.
Hatoyama said Japan would work on establishing an Asia-Pacific free trade area by 2020 to boost growth by accelerating cross-border trade and investment.
"We need to see Asia as a new frontier," he said. "By achieving growth of Asia as a whole, Japan can achieve growth as well."
Japan's economy is widely expected to lose its place as the world's second largest economy to China, possibly next year.
But without China's rapid economic growth, Japan's own economy might be much weaker, analysts say, because the Asian powerhouse is Japan's biggest trading partner.
Hatoyama's Democrats swept to power in August elections, ousting the long-ruling conservatives with a pledge to put the focus back on households instead of big business.
His government "has been criticised that they have no growth strategy, so it's good to have one," said Yukio Takahashi, a stock market analyst at Shinko Securities.
"But unless there are more concrete plans on how to implement these policies... the impact on the market would be negligible," he said.
Hatoyama last week marked a troubled first 100 days in office that has seen his public approval rating sink below 50 percent, compared with more than 70 percent in his first weeks in office.
Last week he apologised after one of his former aides was indicted for allegedly misreporting millions of dollars of political donations.
On Friday his cabinet approved a record budget worth 92.3 trillion yen (1.0 trillion dollars) for the next financial year starting in April, seeking to revive the stricken economy.
Weeks of hard work on the public finances resulted in the hospitalisation of Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii, 77, due to high blood pressure and fatigue.
Fujii left hospital temporarily Wednesday to attend a cabinet meeting, but said he was exhausted and would follow doctors' advice about when to return to work full-time.
