Asian markets declining across the board (MarketWatch) (19-06-2008)

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian markets extended their losses on Thursday, as automakers declined and banks weakened again, while oil companies such as Woodside Petroleum advanced after crude-oil prices firmed overnight.

Benchmark indexes in China gave back the previous session's more than 5% surge, with the Shanghai Composite Index skidding 6.54% to 2,748.87 and the Shenzhen Index down 7.43% at 780.56.

Morgan Stanley’s second-quarter loss of 60% pulled down financial stocks across the region.

Of national Asian indexes, Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 2.2% lower at 14,130.17 and the Topix index gave up 2.4% to 1,275.60. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.2% to 5,379.40, and South Korea's Kospi index retreated 2.1% to 1,737.79. Taiwan's Weighted Price Index dropped 2.1%, Singapore's Straits Times eased 1.6% and New Zealand's NZX-50 fell 1.5%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.38% to 22,771.12.

Source MarketWatch