Asian shares end mixed (MarketWatch) (07-09-2010)

SINGAPORE (MarketWatch) -- Asian stock markets ended the session mixed after the holiday in the U.S. Wall Street holiday, relying on local developments, among which expectations for higher Chinese steel prices favored steel companies in the region, helping markets gain.

Japan's Nikkei Share Average was down 0.3%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was flat, South Korea's Kospi Composite was off 0.1%, China's Shanghai Composite Index was 0.4% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was flat and India's Sensex was 0.4% higher.

Steelmakers across the region were higher on hopes that they would benefit from higher steel prices in China. Japanese stocks were weaker but off lows, supported by U.S. President Obama's infrastructure announcement.

Australian mining shares were mixed with BHP up 0.2%, Rio Tinto down 0.4% and Newcrest off 0.3%.

Investors were waiting for the formation of Australia's new government as independent lawmaker Bob Katter put his support behind the Liberal-National coalition, leaving the fate of the nation's leadership in the hands of two remaining independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott.

Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.4%, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.3%, Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was flat, Indonesia shares gained 0.5%, Philippine shares rose 0.8%, shares in Thailand were up 0.4% and New Zealand's NZX-50 was up 1.0%.

In foreign exchange markets the euro dropped against the U.S. dollar and the yen with non-Japan banks selling on a report from the Wall Street Journal that Europe's recent stress tests of strength of major banks understated some lenders' holdings of potentially risky government debt.

Source: MarketWatch