Market Update
Equities in Asia ended sharply lower, as continuing political unrest in Libya sent crude prices higher, and after a clutch of economic reports in Japan and China weighed on investor sentiment.
At close, Japan's Nikkei, China's Shanghai Composite and Australia's ASX dropped 1.5% each. India's Sensex and Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.
Equities opened lower, following a mildly negative Wall Street close overnight, and as Japan revised its quarterly growth for the October-December period downward, to a contraction of 1.3% from 1.1% earlier, while China posted a surprise trade deficit for February.
Crude-oil futures advanced early after violence in Libya escalated as protesters seeking the ouster of Col. Muammar Gaddafi battled forces loyal to the ruler.
In major news, Japan's two major exchanges, Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Stock Exchange, said they were looking to merge as rival exchanges globally stitch up alliances in a bid to compete.
Stocks on the Move
In Tokyo, technology stocks were pressured after their U.S. peers slipped on Wall Street, and as a stronger yen bogged down sentiment.
Elpida Memory dropped 8%. Automakers Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi declined 0.7% to 1.8%.
In Hong Kong, aviation and property plays led the decliners with China Southern Airlines erasing 1.7% while Henderson Land was off 1.3%.
In Shanghai, resource plays were the hardest hit as metal prices were trading weak. Aluminum Corporation of China, Jiangxi Copper and Yunnan Tin dropped 2.7% to 4%.
Indian stocks fell over 1% in early trade but regained some ground later as inflation in the country was shown to falling, as per government data released Thursday.
Bank stocks were the biggest losers. State Bank of India lost 1.6% while private lender ICICI Bank tumbled 1.9%.
While in Sydney, losses in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, down 3% and 2.4%, respectively, led the index downward. Financials ended mildly lower.