SEOUL: Asian stock markets were uneven Wednesday as investor sentiment was dented by losses on Wall Street and doubts about Greece’s ability to repay debts due to the IMF this month. Chinese markets rebounded from the previous day’s sell-off.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.3 percent to 2,105.17 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 1.6 percent to 5,730.80. Stocks in Southeast Asia were also lower. But Chinese markets rebounded from their biggest drop in months on Tuesday that was sparked by an upcoming wave of IPOs. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 1.1 percent to 28,043.79 and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.5 percent to 4,362.21. Japan was closed for a holiday.
“It’s hard to get consistency in markets at the moment and equities have been very choppy in recent weeks,” Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG, said in a commentary. “A consistent theme has been the sell-off in bond markets as equities now seem to be responding to this as well.”