Hong Kong, July 3: Major stock markets remained weak on Friday amidst concern over health of the Japanese economy. Hong Kong share prices fell 2.6 per cent on profit-taking amid higher interbank rates due to a renewed weakening of the Japanese yen, dealers said. Thai stocks also slid 1.5 per cent on run over cash-strapped local financial institutions and disappointment at Japan's bridge bank plan, analysts said.The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index was down 4.24 points at 273.74 points, while the select SET-50 index lost 0.30 points to close the session at 18.62 points.
``The renewed weakness of the yen has prompted profit-taking,'' said Eugene Law, Research director at Lippo Securities. ``The sentiment is very bearish. People seem to refuse or resist thinking positively, and any talk of market support will soon become a target for short sellers,'' he said. The key Hang Seng index lost 226.85 points to close at 8,639.31, after a 3. 8 percent gain in the previous day's trade.
The value ofturnover totalled 4.513 billion Hong Kong dollars (583 million US),against the previous day's 7.983 billion dollar.
The market opened weakly as the benchmark three-month Hong Kong interbank offered rate was fixed at 9.24554 percent, up from the previous day's fix of 8.91964, wit H the key barometer losing 205.44 points by the end of the morning session. Dealers also said there was a generally muted response to the Japanese government's plans for a "bridge bank" system to reform the banking sector. Vickers Ballas sales director Anthony Mak said the Japanese government's "bridgebank package was widely expected but investors were disappointed at Japan's failure to introduce permanent tax cuts."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
