Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was 0.9% lower at 19,525.32. Shares of Hong Kong-listed Hang Lung Properties fell 3.1%. Shares of Hong Kong fixed-line operator PCCW were up 0.9% ahead of the release of its full-year results later Wednesday.

South Korea Kospi Index closed 0.9% lower to 1,439.74, Straits Times Index in Singapore ended 1.3% down at 3,201.17 and Taiwan Weighted Price Index shed 0.7% to 7,788.14. Australian S&P ASX/200 closed down 0.7% to 5,923.20 and Shanghai Composite Index egded lower 1.1% to end at 3173.01. Both markets had posted gains earlier in the session.

Oil stocks bucked the trend and advanced. Shares of Inpex rose 2% in Tokyo trading, while Nippon Oil, Japan largest oil distributor, rose 0.7%. Also on the advance, Australian Woodside Petroleum was up 0.3% and Chinese Cnooc rose 0.3% in Hong Kong.


8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex plummets on heavy selling in large-caps.
The Sensex on BSE finished 239.98 points, or 1.83%, lower at 12,884.34. The session was highly volatile as the market traded within a range of 175 points. The market breadth was weak as there were three decliners for each advancer. As 1,936 stocks declined, 651 advanced and 61 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex only eight advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,008 crore, higher than Rs 3,209.57 crore on Monday, while on NSE, the turnover was Rs 8,363.28 crore, much higher than Rs 6,753.15 on Monday.

Economic news

Deutsche Bank, biggest bank in Germany, will invest in emerging markets such as India, as it aims to expand consumer banking and money management to help increase pretax profit, excluding nonrecurring gains or costs, to 8.4 billion euros in 2008. The bank opened eight branches in India and began selling credit cards there.

The rupee kept surging against the US dollar and hit a multi-year high of 43.1525/43.1600 a dollar in late morning deals on sustained dollar sales by banks together with strong capital inflows.

Trading highlights

Indiabulls Real Estate was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 491.75 crore followed by Infosys and TCS.

Advancers

Pharma stocks were among the few gainers. Ranbaxy Laboratories led the advancers, up 3.% to Rs 338, as 3.32 lakh shares were traded on BSE. Dr Reddy Labs gained 1.8% to Rs 694. BHEL was up 1.2% at Rs 2,280. Reliance Energy advanced 1.8% to Rs 484, and ONGC added 1.5% to Rs 866. Other gainers included ITC, higher 0.6% to Rs 143 and Hindustan Lever, up 0.2% to Rs 198.

Decliners

IT stocks plummeted, as the dollar dipped versus the Rupee to its lowest level since June 1999. Also, a weak consumer confidence report caused concerns about a slowdown in the United States, where these companies generate most of their revenue. TCS slumped 4.8% to Rs 1,201, Satyam Computers shed 3.5% to Rs 456, Infosys lost 3.2% to Rs 1,992 and Wipro declined 4.8% to Rs 558. Of company news, Satyam Computer has signed a five-year contract valued at 200 million dollar with US-based Applied Materials, a global leader in nano manufacturing technology for providing application development, maintenance and support services.

Auto large-cap Tata Motors fell heavily, down 4.7% to Rs 719 and Index heavy Reliance Industries declined 1.48% to Rs 1,344.95. Other decliners included HDFC, off 3.5% to Rs 1,519. Larsen & Toubro shed 3% to Rs 1,566. Maruti, Hindalco and Bharti Airtel were down around 2.5% each to Rs 799, Rs 130 and Rs 758, respectively. Maruti lost 2.5% to Rs 798 and Hindalco dipped 2.4% to Rs 130.

Tata Steel lost 0.9% to Rs 438. The private sector steel large-cap has now entered into talks with the second-largest steelmaker in the world, Nippon of Japan for jointly producing an alloy for automakers and other companies.

6:30AM European shares were lower Wednesday on selling pressure.
European markets declined on Wednesday morning. In early trade, Frankfurt Xetra Dax climbed 0.4 % to 6,829.21, the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.4 % to 5,566.23 and London FTSE 100 slipped 0.1 % to 6,288.5. National benchmarks fell in 16 of the 18 markets in Western Europe.

Advancers

Oil groups provided the only substantial support to the market after oil prices spiked briefly above $66 a barrel. Finnish refiner Neste Oil gained 2.3%, France Total rose 1%, while Britain BP added 1% and Royal Dutch Shell, Europe biggest oil company, gained 1.7%.

Decliners