Asian shares mixed on Wall St, Europe fears

HONG KONG, May 17 (AFP): A limp performance from Wall Street and continuing disquiet over European debt woes combined Tuesday to produce a mixed performance on Asian stock markets. Policymakers continued their debate on how to rescue debt-swamped eurozone economies, as International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was refused bail by a New York court after denying sexual assault charges. The IMF executive board met late Monday to discuss Strauss-Kahn's situation, but made no public announcement on his fate at the helm of the US-based lender. Meanwhile the Fund signed off on a 78-billion-euro ($111 billion) EU-IMF bailout for Portugal, and approved 1.58 billion euros in new assistance to debt-laden Ireland. Portugal, under pressure from the markets for months, finally sought a bailout in April after the minority socialist government and right-wing opposition failed to agree on a new round of budget cuts. But the move failed to inspire the markets, with Tokyo scraping into positive territory, up 0.09 per cent, or 8.72 points, to 9,567.02. Seoul lost 0.08 per cent, or 1.77 points, to 2,102.41 and Hong Kong finished down 0.26 per cent, or 59.55 points, at 22,901.08. Shanghai rose 0.13 per cent, or 3.71 points, to 2,852.77, while Sydney closed 0.79 per cent, or 33.9 points, higher at 4,683.90. Tokyo suffered from the weak Wall Street lead and the continuing ramifications of the country's nuclear disaster, sparked by a massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Sentiment was also hurt after Morgan Stanley Capital International on Monday said it would delete 20 Japanese stocks from its MSCI Global Standard Indices on May 31. "It looks like investors in the US and Europe are starting to hold back on buying Japanese stocks, so the attention is on whether demand will come from Asian investors," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a strategist at Okasan Securities. Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) dived 9.52 per cent to 380 yen as more damage to reactors at its stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant came to light. Data released from TEPCO late Monday showed fuel may have also melted at two more reactors at Fukushima besides reactor one. But late bargain-hunting following a three-per cent decline over the prior three sessions recovered part of the early losses, sending the Nikkei index back to positive territory before the closing bell, brokers said. On Monday slumping tech stocks pulled US markets down as the country struck its limit on borrowing with no increase in sight, putting more pressure on the government to slash spending. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 47.38 points (0.38 per cent) at 12,548.37, with technology and consumer stocks leading the way down.