Hong Kong share prices closed lower yesterday, following Wall Street's declines and continued uncertainty over Iraq, dealers said.

The key Hang Seng Index closed down 141.47 points or 1.52 percent at 9,173.43 on trade of HK$7.11 billion (US$912 million).

"The Hang Seng Index was pressured by falls in major indices on profit-taking following gains yesterday," Amsteel Securities Executive Director Freddie Kwan said.

Profit-taking was most visible among property and telecom stocks, dealers said.

Alan Kei, vice-president of Taiwan Securities, said profit-taking was behind the losses, which were also triggered by the weak performance of Wall Street.

"Investors were unsettled about the ongoing uncertainty about the potential war between the US and Iraq," he said, noting that the benchmark index will be rangebound at around 8,900-9,300 points in the short term.

Taiwan Shares Close down

Taiwan share prices closed 2.53 percent lower yesterday, reversing an early technical rebound as profit-taking set in after further Wall Street declines on geopolitical concerns, dealers said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) stabilized on technical factors, but the market sustained its fall with profit-taking intensifying among non-electronics industrials after previous gains, they said.

The weighted index closed down 116.91 points at the day's low of 4,507.96, off a high of 4,639.56, on turnover of NT$57.14 billion (US$1.64 billion).

Fubon Securities Investment manager Norman Lee said the major uncertainty represented by the US-Iraq confrontation overrode all other factors, keeping Wall Street and other markets under pressure.

Nikkei Slides Slightly

Japanese share prices fell 0.74 percent yesterday on the back of losses in US and European bourses on fears of a war in Iraq, but the drop was capped by hopes Tokyo will support the local market, dealers said.

Speculation the Bank of Japan (BOJ), which began a two-day policy board meeting earlier, would vote to increase purchases of stocks help by banks to help boost their capital before the financial year end in March also offered a boost, they added.

The Nikkei-225 average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange shed 64.51 points to end the day at 8,599.66. The broader Topix index of all first section issues eased 4.22 points to 853.01.

(China Daily February 14, 2003)