By Shri Navaratnam
SINGAPORE -- Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday, with technology plays helping the Seoul market reach its highest point in more than three years, while shares in China were sluggish as investors were wary about further tightening measures from Beijing.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was flat, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1%, South Korea's Kospi Composite was up 0.4% at 2004.67, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.2% and India's Sensex was down 0.2%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 15 points in screen trade.
In China, the market pulled back slightly after Monday's sharp gains.
"The market's sharp gains yesterday were driven by pent-up demand following milder-than-expected policy tightening," on Friday, said Zhuo Xiangyu, an analyst at China Securities Information. "But many people are still concerned about potential further policy tightening in the near term, so (overall) the investment (mood) tends to be rather cautious."
Beijing raised banks' reserve requirement ratio by 0.50 percentage point on Friday, but avoided a policy rate hike although data on Saturday showed November inflation accelerating to a new two-year high.
"The boost to risk appetite may prove short-lived if as we expect China only delays hiking rates," Credit Agricole said in a note to clients.
Among actively traded stocks, Shenzhen Zhenye was down 2.1%, China Vanke was off 0.4% and Western Mining fell 1.0%.
Technology plays and automakers underpinned the Seoul market, with the benchmark index hitting 2004.67, its highest level since Nov. 7, 2007.
Analysts continued to watch out for signs of improved sales of the country's technology products during the U.S. holiday season. Hynix Semiconductor rose 1.8% and Samsung Electronics advanced 0.4%, while Hyundai Motor added 1.7% and Kia Motors rose 1.0%.
Woori Finance Holdings fell 4.2% on worries that the government's efforts to sell its 57% stake in the firm may falter after South Korean groups that had shown interest in the shares said late Monday that they were dropping out of the sales process.
Shipbuilders were up after Hyundai Heavy Industries said it received a $1.45 billion order from German liner Hapag-Lloyd AG to build four container ships.
Hyundai Heavy rose 6.9% and Samsung Heavy Industries rose 5.3%.
Shares in Tokyo were flat as gains in resource-linked stocks were offset by sluggish trade in exporters' stocks due to Monday's rise in the yen against the U.S. dollar.
"We are seeing a temporary market correction on the back of a stronger yen, combined with a pre-existing sense of overheating," says Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
He said investors are turning their attention to the Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting later in the global day and the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey on Wednesday.
