Asian stock markets traded in the red on Thursday as optimism over the Bank of Japan's easing measures dwindled and focus turned to an uninspiring Chinese factory report.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 145 points or 1.57% at 9,086 while the Hang Seng reduced 250 points or 1.20% at 20,590.

Traders digested the latest data that showed China´s manufacturing sector contracted for 11th month in September.

The preliminary HSBC China manufacturing sector purchasing managers´ index for September came slightly above August's reading of 47.6 at 47.8, however any figure below 50 still indicates a contraction.

Japanese data failed to provide any cheer after figures showed the nation's exports to China fell 9.9% in August compared with the same month a year earlier. Also, Japan's August trade deficit widened to ¥754.1bn from ¥517.4bn the previous month.

Today's reports dented market confidence and fuelled concern about the impact of the global slowdown on the Chinese and Japanese economies.

Japanese exporters, not surprisingly surrendered gains enjoyed in the previous session. Sony slumped 4.5%, Olympus lost 2.4% in Tokyo and Toyota Motor dropped 1.4%. Honda declined 2%.

Other significant fallers included Tokyo Electron and Advantest Corp which fell 4.8% and 6.3% respectively.

Resource stocks also moved out of favour after the price of crude fell again. Crude oil prices have fallen 5% since Monday.

PetroChina dragged 1.8% in Hong Kong while Cnooc skidded 3.5%.



CJ

Related share prices