(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Asian markets mostly rose yesterday as investors shrugged off Greece's default, with Tokyo lifted by an upbeat survey on business confidence, but Shanghai's volatile run continued, plunging more than 5%.
The euro edged down against the dollar after Athens failed to service its debt to the International Monetary Fund, and analysts warned of continued uncertainty, even after Greeks vote in a weekend referendum, which is effectively a poll on eurozone membership. Tokyo rose 0.46%, or 93.59 points, to end at 20,329.32, Sydney climbed 1.04%, or 56.70 points, to 5,515.70 and Seoul added 1.14%, or 23.69 points, to end at 2,097.89.
Shanghai collapsed in the last hour to end 5.23%, or 223.52 points, lower at 4,053.70. The benchmark index gave up all Tuesday's gains, resuming a downward spiral that has seen it drop more than 20% in just over two weeks.
Hong Kong and Bangkok were closed for public holidays.
In other markets, Taipei rose 0.56%, or 52.21 points, to 9,375.23; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co closed 0.36% higher at Tw$141.0 while Hon Hai Precision Industry climbed 1.03% to Tw$98.0.
Wellington added 1.18%, or 67.40 points, to 5,794.36; Air New Zealand was up 1.57% at NZ$2.59 and Trade Me gained 1.47% to NZ$3.44.
Manila closed 0.14%, or 10.65 points, higher at 7,575.15; SM Prime Holdings added 0.10% to 20 pesos while Universal Robina was down 0.93% at 1.80 pesos and Jollibee Foods eased 0.96% to 195.40 pesos.
Singapore's Straits Times Index closed 13.81 points or 0.42% higher at 3,331.14; SingTel was up 5 cents or 1.19% at $4.26 while DBS was down 19 cents or 0.9% at $20.50.
Malaysia's key index gained 21.32 points, or 1.25%, to 1,727.96; Maybank rose 0.33% to 9.17 ringgit, Telekom Malaysia added 3.67% to 6.78 while YTL lost 1.29% to 1.53 ringgit. Jakarta ended down 0.13%, or 6.60 points, to 4.904.06; Indonesia-based construction company PT Waskita Karya Tbk gained 2.96% to 1,565 rupiah, while satellite TV company PT MNC Sky Vision Tbk slipped 10.34% to 1,300 rupiah.
As expected, Greece defaulted on its ‚¬1.5bn ($1.7bn) IMF loan Tuesday after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras shocked creditors and broke off bailout reform talks at the weekend, calling a July 5 plebiscite on creditors' proposals.
The deadline to pay came and went after European leaders rejected a last-minute compromise from Tsipras, meaning five months of fraught talks had failed and making Greece the only developed country ever to default with the IMF.
The Fund froze its loan programme to the government, while European Commission-European Central Bank liquidity assistance also expired on Tuesday. Failure to make the payment "is not really the issue now, the bigger question is what response the ECB takes to the missed payment with respect to the provision of Emergency Liquidity Assistance," Philip Borkin, a senior economist in Auckland at ANZ Bank New Zealand, wrote in a client note yesterday. "Even following this Sunday's referendum, there may still be more questions than answers, and so this heightened level of uncertainty could be part of the market backdrop for a while yet," he said. On currency markets the euro was mixed but managed to keep from plunging. It bought $1.1109 and ¥136.26 yesterday in Tokyo, against $1.1139 and ¥136.38 in New York.
"Any possibility that eurozone membership becomes fluid is a negative for the euro, but the market is not yet so concerned with it until other larger countries look like they will be on the same path," said Ilya Feygin, a New York-based managing director and senior strategist at WallachBeth Capital. The dollar was at ¥122.69 compared with ¥122.44.
Japan's Nikkei index ticked higher after the central bank's closely-watched Tankan survey of business confidence improved in the April-June quarter from the previous two quarters, beating expectations.
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