DONG A SECURITIES CORPORATION

The crisis surrounding Toyota's recall of millions of cars around the world weighed on Japanese stocks yesterday Thursday February 04 as profit-taking also sent regional markets lower.
And many investors kept to the sidelines ahead of the release of key jobs figures out of the US that will indicate the strength of recovery in the world's biggest economy.

Tokyo lost 0.46 per cent, or 48.35 points, to close at 10,355.98.

Market players also moved to take profits after two days of rallies across Asia.

Shanghai finished 0.28 per cent or 8.53 points lower at 2,995.31 due to a sell-off in banks after Beijing said it had no plans to inject cash into three major state-run lenders, dealers said.

Sydney ended 0.59 per cent or 27.2 points off at 4,621.6 following weaker than expected retail data.
"There is hesitancy hanging over the market, despite the fact that we've had a couple of good days recently after two weeks of consistent falls across the market," a Shaw Stockbroking dealer told Dow Jones Newswires.

HONG KONG: Shares fell 1.84 per cent yesterday, as profit-takers moved in after two days of rallies.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index shed 380.44 points to end at 20,341.64. Turnover was HK$61.00 billion.

SINGAPORE: The Straits Times Index ended down 0.7 per cent, led by a 2.1 per cent drop in top lender DBS Group Holdings and 2.8 per cent loss in the biggest developer, CapitaLand.

KUALA LAMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia paused for their short consolidations in step with the technical pullbacks on the regional stock markets yesterday. Overall declining counters outpaced advancing counters by 446 to 216.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Composite Index (FBM KLCI) fell from its intra-day high of 1,267.28 to its intra-day low of 1,263.88. It closed at 1,265.03 points, giving a day-on-day loss of 2.12 points, or 0.17 per cent.

* Seoul ended almost unchanged, with the Kospi edging up 1.40 points to 1,616.42.
Hyundai Motor rose 3.6 per cent to 116,000 won and Kia Motors advanced 2.9 per cent to 21,100 won.
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* Taipei closed flat, edging 5.94 points lower to 7,542.04.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co dropped 1.17 per cent to NT$59.1 and rival United Microelectronics Corp was off 0.9 per cent at NT$16.5.

* Wellington rose 0.44 per cent or 13.83 points to 3,148.94 despite unemployment rising to 7.3 per cent in the fourth quarter from 6.5 per cent in the previous three months.

* Jakarta closed 0.43 per cent or 11.32 points down to 2,593.22.
Bank Rakyat Indonesia declined 2.0 per cent to 7,400 rupiah, while Bank Mandiri shed 1.1 per cent to 4,625 rupiah.

* Manila closed 1.04 per cent or 30.06 points higher at 2,914.87.
SM Investments Corp rose 3.12 per cent to 330 pesos while First Philippine Holdings Corp gained 2.1 per cent to 48.50 pesos.

* Bangkok closed 0.72 per cent or 5.13 points lower at 702.52.
PTT Plc fell 3.00 baht to close at 222.00 baht but Banpu rose 10.00 baht to 558.00 baht.

* Mumbai closed down 1.64 per cent or 271.1 points at 16,224.95. Sentiment was weakened as food inflation rose for a second straight week, to 17.56 per cent, fuelling concerns of a rate hike.

VIETNAM: The VN Index increased 8.35 points or 1.69 percent to close at 503.83 pts. The liquidity was improved with the total trading volume of 34.87 million shares worth 1.689 trillion dong, up over 42 percent in volume and 50 percent in value day on day.
The HNX Index gained 2.77 points or 1.71 percent to end at 164.69 points with the total market trade of 16.88 million shares valued at over 552 billion dong, increasing 31 percent in volume and 23 percent in value against previous session.

EUROPE: European shares fell by the most in 10 weeks yesterday, with Spain's Santander leading a fall in banks, hurt by worries about euro zone peripheral countries, and after US jobless claims unexpectedly rose.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares fell 2.8 per cent to end provisionally at 992.93 points, its biggest one-day percentage fall in 10 weeks, and its lowest close since November 30.
Across Europe, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index plunged 2.17 per cent to 5,139.31 points, the Paris CAC 40 ended sharply down by 2.75 per cent at 3,689.25 points and the Frankfurt Dax plummeted 2.45 per cent to 5,533.24 points.

AMERICA: Stocks buckled Thursday under the growing belief that the global economy is weaker than many investors expected and likely to stop companies from hiring. The Dow Jones industrials briefly traded below 10,000 for the first time in three months.

Just 273 stocks rose on the New York Stock Exchange, while more than 2,800 fell. One of the weak performers was metals producer Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., which tumbled 5.3 percent. The few winners included Cisco Systems Inc. following a big increase in its earnings. Consolidated trading volume at the NYSE rose to 5.9 billion shares from 4.3 billion Wednesday.

The Dow fell 268.37, or 2.6 percent, to 10,002.18. The Dow has fallen 723 points, or 6.7 percent, since closing at a 15-month high of 10,725.43 on Jan. 19.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 34.17, or 3.1 percent, to 1,063.11, its steepest drop since April 20, 2009.

The Nasdaq composite index slid 65.48, or 3 percent, to 2,125.43.

In other trading, bond prices rose sharply, pushing yields lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.61 percent from 3.71 percent late Wednesday.

The rise in the dollar hit commodity prices and stocks of companies that produce them. Crude oil fell $3.84 to settle at $73.14 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest one-day drop in four months.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 20.98, or 3.4 percent, to 589.68.

Benchmark Currency Rates

USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD

HKD	7.7714	10.6819	0.0868	12.2581	7.2927	7.2482	6.7507

AUD	1.1512	1.5823	0.0129	1.8158	1.0803	1.0737	 	0.1481

CAD	1.0722	1.4737	0.012	1.6912	1.0061	 	0.9314	0.138

CHF	1.0656	1.4647	0.0119	1.6809	 	0.9939	0.9257	0.1371

GBP	0.634	0.8714	0.0071	 	0.5949	0.5913	0.5507	0.0816

JPY	89.57	123.114 	141.280	84.052	83.5393	77.805	11.5255

EUR	0.7275	 	0.0081	1.1476	0.6827	0.6786	0.632	0.0936

USD	 	1.3745	0.0112	1.5773	0.9384	0.9327	0.8686	0.1287

Bloomberg