Asia: Rate Cuts Fail to Bolster China

After a volatile sell-off this week in Asia, markets ended mixed Friday, with Chinese indices in flat territory after dropping at the end of the day as multiple lending rate cuts in Hong Kong could not sustain investor sentiment.

The Hang Seng closed up 23 points, or 0.8%, to 28,783, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 15 points, or 0.27%, to 5315.

In Japan, the Nikkei suffered the region's worst declines, closing down 188 points, or 1.2%, to 15,583, rapidly nearing a 52-week low of 15,262. The Topix fared similarly, down 22 points, or 1.5%, to 1494. The Kospi rose 10 points, or 0.55%, to 1990.

"After a whole week's decline for this week I still see the index becoming very volatile since market sentiment is turning back and most of the investors are cautious about sub prime," says Castor Pang, a market strategist for Sun Hung Kai in Hong Kong. "Hong Kong banks allowed an interest rate cut but that couldn't help the whole day -- only 23 points up was smaller than expectations," adds Pang. ...