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SCMP Reporter

AUSTRALIAN shares ended weaker as the spending spree unleashed after Friday's Olympic announcement ended.

     Brokers said there was selective offshore buying in some stocks that could benefit immediately from Sydney playing host to the 2000 Olympics, but overall turnover was light.

  ''After the flurry of activity last week, we saw the market suffer a bit of a hangover today,'' said Geoff Wilson of Prudential Bache.

     The All Ordinaries index ended 3.5 points down at 1,943 from Friday's close. It opened at 1,941.5.

     The All Industrials ended 7.8 points lower at 3,053.8 and the All Resources slipped 0.1 to 1,091.9.

     Building and construction groups, which were the major movers last week, were little changed yesterday. SEOUL HEALTHY across-the-board interest pushed the Seoul stock market higher, but brokers forecast that rampant profit-taking in reaction to suddensteep advances would put pressure on the market today.

  ''Advance buying, predicting a bull market after the Chusok holiday, prevailed in the market,'' said S.C. Woo of Tongyang Securities.

  ''Institutional buyers, who have turned around from being recent net sellers, also contributed to many of today's rises,'' said Kim Dong-ik of Daishin Securities.

     The composite stock index soared 14.28 points to 717.83.

     Brokers said late interest in financial shares helped them gain more strongly than others. The financial sub-index added 24.1 points to 956.14.

     Low-priced shares which were recent laggards also attracted buying sentiment.

  ''A selling spree, especially from investment trust companies, is expected to put a dent in the market tomorrow,'' said Mr Woo of Tongyang Securities.

 BANGKOK THAI stocks continued to dive in the afternoon on technical worries continuing from last week. while investors were sidelined by the impending enforcement of stricter rules on margin requirements, brokers said.

     The SET index plunged 14.68 points, 1.5 per cent, to close at 964.9 on thin turnover of 4.02 billion baht.

   Most brokers did not expect to see such a big drop of the stock indicator and said that after it fell below 970 points, more selling pressure depressed the market as it was perceived as on a downward trend.

  ''Technically, all instruments show it is a sale,'' said a broker at Nava Finance and Securities.

  ''The new rules of margin requirements have worried investors that a certain buying force will disappear from the market,'' said another broker at Ekachart Finance and Securities.

     The rules, to become effective on October 1, will force investors to sell stocks in their portfolios if share prices fall to certain levels.

  The index failed several times to hold 1,000 points and brokers now say the stock indicator may fall to as low as 945-950 points. But some analysts said prices might rebound today.

 SINGAPORE PRICES closed higher on late bargain-hunting, but brokers say they do not foresee any sharp rise in the immediate future as investors are cautious.

  ''I don't think investors will react by pouring heaps of money into the stock market when the new and liberalised provident fund investment rules are enforced in October,'' one broker at a foreign securities house said.

         The 30-share Straits Times Industrial index rose 6.10 points to 1,989.35.

   Volume, mostly in Malaysian shares, was 324.29 million shares against 287.8 million on Friday.

     Most brokers said they expected the market to consolidate.

         ''However, we expect the giant issue of Singapore Telecom in October to spark a fresh rally,'' one of them said.

     Although Singapore's fundamentals were still intact, most fund managers were not prepared to make fresh commitments now. ''Those who have profits will take them first,'' one broker said.

   Malaysian speculative shares were still dominating investors' interest although brokers expected selling pressure from those who had to meet contra payments.

 KUALA LUMPUR PRICES closed higher as retail players focused on second-line stocks led by Multi-Purpose Holdings, but profit-taking dragged stocks down from earlier highs, brokers said.

  ''Players are rotating play among second-liners,'' said a dealer.

     The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange composite index closed up 5.45 points at 843.32, after touching an intra-day high of 846.39. Its record was 851.94 set on September 7.

     But analysts said the immediate upside could be capped at 850 points, as the market needed some downward correction.

     Multi-Purpose led activity with 33.2 million shares traded. It surged 43 cents to M$3.10.

     Turnover was 550 million shares against 428 million on Friday. Gainers led losers by 279 to 92.

 TAIPEI SHARE prices ended lower after nervous investors, seeing no signs of recovery from early losses, intensified selling in late trade.

     The weighted index closed 28.99 points down at 3,848.46 in thin turnover of NT$12.89 billion.

     Brokers said the market was technically in a downtrend and sentiment was dampened further by the weekend's news that Mao Sheng brokerage in southern Taiwan had suspended operations after its chairman had run up large debts.

   This deterred major players from entering the market, although brokers expected the impact of the Mao Sheng case to be short-term.

     The Big Three banks resumed falling after last week's disappointing stock dividend news. ''There is still room for bank stocks to fall and this means the overall market will remain weak,'' said George Hou of Jardine Fleming.

 MANILA SHARE prices closed marginally higher in narrow trading with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co leading the gainers, brokers said.

     Abacus Securities vice-president Charles Ngan said interest shifted back to PLDT because of the depreciation of the peso in the black market, which meant more revenue for the company.

   ''We will see selective trading. The market will just consolidate in the next few days,'' Mr Ngan said.

     The Manila stock exchange composite index moved up 2.65 points to 1,956.17 while the Makati index rose 4.29 points to end at 2,013.55.

     The combined volume at the two exchanges slipped to 1.59 billion shares from 1.71 billion on Friday, but value grew to 742.66 million pesos from 533.64 million.

 WELLINGTON THE New Zealand share market finished one of its quietest days in recent memory slightly lower.

     Brokers said there was little direction from offshore markets and local institutions were transacting little business before the end of the quarter. Domestic economic news is also light this week.

     The NZSE-40 Capital Index closed down 8.45 points at 1,923.72 on a volume of NZ$12.6 million shares. There were 30 gainers and 45 losers.

  ''The market's not going to break any turnover records this week,'' said Steve Ellis at ANZ McCaughan.

  ''There was nothing going on, the sellers were prepared to bridge the gap rather than the buyers,'' Mr Ellis said.

 JAKARTA SHARE prices closed weaker in slow trading, with corrections on major capitalised stocks dampening overall sentiment, brokers said.

  ''The market is consolidating as share prices are fully valued. New issues which are offered at lower price-earnings absorbed the switching funds,'' one analyst said.

     A press report of a heavy fine on Indah Kiat for the alleged use of illegal timber sent its share price tumbling 12.7 per cent, brokers said. Officials said later that the fine was postponed because Indah Kiat had denied the allegation and asked for anew probe.

     The official index edged down 0.14 points at 420.9.

  The Chinese share prices are provided by Telerate. All other prices are provided by Reuter.



Olympics excitement fades in Sydney