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Market Update

Asian Shares Down After Report Says U.S Economy Slowing

Asian shares were down Thursday, tracking Wall Street losses after a Federal Reserve report showed economic growth in the U.S. slowed in several different regions.

At the time of writing, the Nikkei was down 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng were off 0.6% and 1% each, respectively. The S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1% while the Sensex remained flat in opening trade in Mumbai.

Adding to concerns, ratings agency Fitch warned it could cut the United States' top credit rating if it fails to raise its debt ceiling to avoid default.

Stocks on the Move

Tokyo Electric Co nosedived 23% after the government appointed a panel to launch an investigation into the accident at its Fukushima plant following an earthquake and a tsunami.

Nintendo shares were under pressure, down 5.5% after UBS downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy.

Sony Corp. dropped almost 2% while Canon was off 1%.

Data released Wednesday showed Japan's GDP for the January-March quarter remained unchanged at 0.9%, but below expectations of 0.8%. However, compared to a year earlier, GDP shrank 3.5%, revised up slightly from an initial reading of a 3.7% drop.

Airline shares were lower due to higher fuel costs with Air China down 1.7% on the mainland and off 3.7% in Hong Kong. China Eastern Airlines was down 3.8% while China Southern dropped 5.3% on the Hang Seng.

Jiangxi Copper Co dropped 2.5% while China Aluminum Corp of China fell 4%.

Property developers were among the few gainers ahead of land auctions later in the day.

The Mumbai market opened in positive territory, propped up by index heavyweights Reliance Industries, NTPC, TCS, BHEL and Hero Honda, all trading between 0.7% and 1.7% higher.

State-run NTPC is one among many power companies that will receive coal for their projects, a power ministry official said earlier this week. An earlier cancellation of a coal block allotted to NTPC may also be reviewed, according to a coal ministry official.

Jobs data released in Sydney late Wednesday showed the jobless rate held steady at 4.9% but the number of employed that increased to 7,800 fell well below the expected figure of 25,600.

The Australian benchmark was flat high crude prices pushed up oil stocks, offsetting losses in miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, both down about 0.1% each. Shares of Gold miner Newcrest dropped 1.3% after the company lowered its output forecast due to power failure and other site disruptions.

Woodside Petroleum was up 0.4% while Qantas Airways dropped 2% due to higher oil prices.

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