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          HONG KONG, Oct 29 (AFP): Asian stocks tumbled to a much lower close Friday, following Wall Street's path which was led by an ailing General Motors and a possible indictment of Bush administration officials, dealers said.
They said other factors added to the gloom in Asian trade, including possible outbreaks of bird flu and the Achilles heel of equities, inflation, that could result in the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates next week.
MUMBAI: Share prices fell below the 7,700 mark as overseas and domestic funds continued to sell index stocks amid weak sentiment. The Sensex index fell 112.85 points or 1.45 per cent to 7,685.64. Turnover was low at 25.73 billion rupees (571 million dollars). "The outflows continue to dampen sentiment.
TOKYO: Share prices closed 0.53 per cent lower as investors reacted with concern to weak industrial output data and further declines in US stocks,
Dealers said investors were also reluctant to trade actively ahead of major corporate results and third-quarter US gross domestic product figures due later in the day.
SEOUL: Share prices closed 2.2 per cent lower in volatile trade after IT stocks and banks tumbled on massive programme selling. The KOSPI index closed down 25.64 points at 1,140.72. Volume was 330 million shares worth 2.86 trillion won (2.75 billion dollars). Hyundai Motor fell 1,700 won to 74,800 and Kia Motors was down 150 won at 17,850 after largely in-line quarterly results.
TAIPEI: Share prices closed 0.50 per cent lower, continuing weaker as investors chose to stay on the sidelines following further Wall Street losses. TSMC closed up 0.80 Taiwan dollars at 50.40 as investors reacted positively to its in-line results for the third quarter to September and on expectations for further sequential growth. UMC was down 0.60 at 16.75, extending losses on a sell-off by foreign investors. AU Optronics was up 0.70 at 39.75, extending gains on the back of better-than-expected third quarter results and positive guidance for the current quarter.
SHANGHAI: Share prices closed 1.54 per cent lower, extending losses on liquidity concerns with oil refiners and automakers dragged down after several firms issued profit warnings. The Shanghai A-share Index lost 17.83 points to 1,136.27 on turnover of 7.96 billion yuan (981.50 million dollars) while the Shenzhen A-share Index was down 6.39 points or 2.28 per cent at 273.66 on turnover of 4.51 billion yuan.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.43 per cent weaker , extending losses as investors took profits ahead of the weekend. The Straits Times Index fell 9.49 points to 2,192.41. Volume traded totalled 705 million shares worth 728 million Singapore dollars (433 million US). Singapore Airlines was steady at 11.20 dollars on lingering concerns high jet fuel prices will continue to affect the carrier's bottomline, dealers said. For the other blue chips, Singapore Telecommunications dropped three cents to 2.33, while Singapore Press Holdings was steady at 4.44 and ST Engineering lost two cents to 2.53.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.15 per cent higher in sluggish trade, helped by last minute buying of blue chips. The Composite Index gained 1.33 points to 905.79 and volume traded was 277.18 million shares, worth 645.94 million ringgit (171.12 million dollars). Among blue chips, Tenaga Nasional was up 0.10 ringgit at 10.10, Telekom Malaysia was down 0.05 at 9.75 while Malayan Banking added 0.10 to 11.50.
BANGKOK: Share prices closed 0.44 per cent lower, led by falls on Wall Street and other Asian markets. The Composite Index lost 3.04 points to 682.25. Turnover stood at 1.3 billion shares worth 7.9 billion baht (198 million dollars) traded. Among major shares, Thailand's top energy firm PTT fell 2.00 baht to 222.00 while its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production was unchanged at 424.00.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.51 per cent lower led by telecommunications company Indosat after it reported weaker-than-expected third quarter results. He said Telkom's share price was also affected by Indosat's fall. The Composite Index closed down 5.441 points at 1,058.256 on volume of 1.50 billion shares worth 940.19 billion rupiah (94 million dollars). Indosat fell 150 rupiah to 4,900 while Telkom ended flat at 5,050.
MANILA: Share prices closed 0.97 per cent higher, extending gains to a fourth day and bucking a weak regional performance on support for selected blue chips. The composite index rose 18.76 points to 1,960.22. Turnover was 485.2 million shares worth 1.07 billion pesos (19.4 million dollars). Philippine Long Distance Telephone, the most actively traded stock, closed up 15 pesos at 1,675.