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Date Posted: 04:12:45 03/20/13 Wed
Author: after hitting a six-week low of 4937.50 in early trading (20 trade wed20/2SocialJustice)
Subject: Banned for life Wednesday 20/3/2013 wk 12 fin 38

3rd UPDATE: Asian Shares Mixed; Caution Amid Cyprus Concerns
20/03/2013 7:56PM

--Cyprus woes continue to drag on Asian shares

--Banks and developers lead China higher

--Australia stocks touch a six-week low amid Europe concerns


(Adds information, quotes, updates/adds market levels)


By Daniel Inman

Concerns over Cyprus continued to weigh on broad Asian sentiment, while a strong performance of banks and developers sent Chinese markets higher.

Uncertainty remained over the situation in Cyprus, where a plan to tax local bank deposits failed to pass after the ruling Democratic Rally party abstained from voting. The tax was proposed over the weekend as a way to help fund a bailout for the country's banks.

The proposed plan unsettled investors as it raised fears that the controversial tax could undermine the confidence of savers across the euro-zone. With the tax now rejected, the form of the country's bailout remains unclear, but fears over the risk of contagion diminished after the European Central Bank said that it would provide support to the country's banks.

"The Cyprus issue is far from over," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne. "I don't think it will be a situation where the ECB has stepped in and we don't have to worry about it."

The euro was slightly higher by the end of Asian trade, at $1.2906 compared with $1.2883 late Tuesday in New York.

Japanese markets were shut for a public holiday on Wednesday, though the yen weakened a touch against the U.S. dollar - the greenback was at Y95.31 late in Asia, compared with Y95.16 late in New York.

With Japan closed, the next catalyst for the exchange rate between the dollar and the yen could be the Federal Reserve's policy meeting. The U.S. central bank will announce its policy statement later in the global day, which will be scrutinized for clues on the direction of monetary policy in the world's largest economy.

Stocks in Australia were lower, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.4% to 4967.30, after hitting a six-week low of 4937.50 in early trading, as concerns about Europe continued to weigh on the market.

Miners in Sydney were lower after Goldman Sachs lowered its iron ore price forecast. Rio Tinto fell 2% and BHP Billiton lost 2.7%.

South Korea's Kospi Composite retreated 1% to 1959.41 and Singapore's Straits Times Index was last down 0.3%.

Chinese markets bucked the regional declines, rising ahead of Thursday's release of China's preliminary manufacturing data for March. The last set of economic numbers to come out of China gave a mixed picture of the recovery in Asia's largest economy.

Chinese stocks were higher ahead of the data. The Shanghai Composite, jumped 2.7% to 2317.37 in mainland China, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong ended up 1% at 22256.44.

Sectors that had recently been beaten down recovered on Wednesday. Property developers performed well, with Country Garden Holdings jumping 9.4% in Hong Kong after a slew of positive comments by analysts following its full year results for 2012.

Chinese banks were also higher ahead of the start of their earnings season, which starts on Friday. China Construction Bank jumped 2.6% in Hong Kong and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ended up 2.7%.

Also in Hong Kong, Geely Automobile Holdings jumped 5.1% after the Chinese carmaker announced a 32% increase in its 2012 net profit, with stronger exports offsetting slower domestic sales.


Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com


TALK BACK: We invite readers to send us comments on this or other financial news topics. Please email us at TalkbackAsia@dowjones.com. Readers should include their full names, work or home addresses and telephone numbers for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit and publish your comments along with your name; we reserve the right not to publish reader comments.


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2013 04:56 ET (08:56 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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