Asian shares resume losses

HONG KONG: Asian stocks resumed their downward track Thursday as Japan”s nuclear crisis cast a shadow over trade while the yen soared to a post-War high against the dollar.
In a bid to soothe investor concerns, the Bank of Japan pumped another six trillion yen ($73 billion) into the short-term money market while the seven richest nations prepared to hold talks on the impact on the world economy.
A day after shares regained some of their huge losses of Monday and Tuesday, dealers were back in selling mood as they eyed events in Japan while the US warned citizens living within 50 miles (80 kilometres) of the crippled Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant to evacuate.
The exclusion zone given by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was wider than the 20 kilometres ordered by Japan and rang alarm bells with investors.
Tokyo slipped 2.37 percent in the afternoon, but was slightly up from earlier trade when it sunk more than four percent. The index, and especially exporters, was helped by an easing of the yen to 78.94 against the dollar after it surged to 76.52 in earlier trade, its highest since the end of World War Two.
The euro traded at 109.89 yen, compared with 112.89 in late Asian trade on Wednesday.
Dealers said the yen”s sharp rise might be at least partly due to Japanese companies repatriating funds to pay for reconstruction.
Finance chiefs from the G7 rich nations were set to hold telephone talks on the crisis on Friday Tokyo time, as market talk grew that Tokyo might be preparing measures to rein in the soaring yen.
“There is intensifying market speculation the Bank of Japan will soon intervene to cap support of the yen,” said NAB Capital analyst David de Garis.
Hong Kong fell 1.79 percent by the break, Sydney lost 0.10 percent and Seoul slid 0.66 percent. Shanghai was 0.51 percent off, with nuclear energy firms hit by news that China”s government had suspended approval of new projects in response to the Japan crisis.
Regional shares had rebounded on Wednesday after heavy selling on Monday and Tuesday caused by the deepening atomic crisis in Japan following Friday”s record earthquake and resulting tsunami. (AFP)