Asian stock markets fell Thursday after weaker-than-expected economic figures in the world's largest economy led investors to take profits from a recent advance. But European shares traded higher, AP reported. Investor optimism has swelled in recent months with signs the economy was starting to heal, so they were disappointed when figures about the services industry and factory orders in the U.S. came in worse than anticipated. The news dragged Wall Street lower overnight, snapping a four-day winning streak, and Asia's bourses followed, some with declines of 2 percent or more. Oil companies weighed on the broader market after crude prices pulled back overnight. With historically low interest rates sending many investors after higher returns, some analysts expected Thursday's selling in Asia to be short-lived even if stock prices were starting to overvalue some companies. Major indexes from Asia to the U.S. have risen 30 percent or more since early March on signs the global recession is easing. «The market is getting ahead of the fundamentals, the global economy is improving but still hasn't recovered. But I still see this as more profit taking and think we could still go higher,» said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. In early trade in Europe, the benchmark indexes in Britain, Germany and Europe rose about 1 percent. Wall Street was headed for a higher open after U.S. futures recovered during the day. Dow futures gained 36, or 0.4 percent, to 8,705 and S&P futures rose 4.8, or 0.5 percent, to 936.50. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average, green over the last six sessions, lost 72.71 points, or 0.8 percent, to 9,668.96. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 73.7, or 0.4 percent, to 18,502.77, but was down over 2 percent earlier in the session. South Korea's Kospi swooned 36.75, or 2.6 percent, to 1,378.14. Benchmarks in Australia and Taiwan were off around 2 percent, while India's Sensex rose 0.5 percent. Asian and other emerging markets have regained their darling status among investors in recent months, with benchmarks in Mumbai and Shanghai gaining more than 50 percent so far this year. Hong Kong shares have rocketed some 50 percent since March alone.
