Asian indices tumble on cues from weaker Wall St

Bangkok: Asian markets declined on Tuesday following a mixed session on Wall Street, where buying was pressured by rising bond yields. US futures fell and oil prices also were lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped more than three per cent as investors unloaded property shares. However, China Evergrande was up nearly 16 per cent, resuming trading after its shares were suspended last week as the troubled real estate developer announced that its chairman was under investigation. Earlier in the session it’s shares soared more than 60 per cent. By midday, the Hang Seng was down 3 per cent at 17,278.37.

Markets in mainland China and South Korea remained closed for holidays. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.5 per cent to 31,282.32, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 skidded 1.1 per cent to 6,953.60. India’s Sensex declined 0.7 per cent to 65,408.18. Bangkok’s SET was down 1.5 per cent and Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.3 per cent. On Monday, the S&P 500 ended little changed at 4,288.39, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2 per cent to 33,433.35. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.7 per cent to 13,307.77.

Oil-and-gas stocks sank as crude prices gave back some of the sharp gains made since the summer. On Tuesday, US benchmark crude oil was down 62 cents at $88.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had pulled back on Monday after charging higher from $70 in the summer. A barrel of US crude fell $1.97 on Monday to settle at $88.82. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 79 cents to $89.92 per barrel. On Monday, Brent lost $1.49 to settle at $90.71 a barrel. The drop for oil dragged stocks lower across the energy sector. Exxon Mobil fell 1.7 per cent, and Chevron lost 1.2 per cent. Stocks have broadly given back 40 per cent of their strong gains for the year since the end of July.