HONG KONG, Feb 4, 2010 (AFP) - The crisis surrounding Toyota's recall of millions of cars around the world weighed on Japanese stocks on Thursday as profit-taking also sent regional markets lower.
And many investors kept to the sidelines ahead of the release of key jobs figures out of the United States that will indicate the strength of recovery in the world's biggest economy.
Troubled car giant Toyota ended down 3.52 percent, a day after dropping almost six percent, after it confirmed it had received dozens of complaints in North America and Japan about brake failure on its top-selling Prius hybrid.
It fell about 14 percent last week.
The latest blow comes after the firm -- the world's biggest automaker -- issued a recall of almost eight million vehicles because of problems with a faulty accelerator.
The recall amounted to more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles.
Problems were compounded by US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warning Wednesday that safety officials "will continue to hold Toyota's feet to the fire to make sure that they are doing everything they have promised to make their vehicles safe."
Tokyo lost 0.46 percent, or 48.35 points, to close at 10,355.98.
However, after the market closed Toyota said it had raised its profit outlook for the financial year to March, despite its latest woes.
It also said that it had posted a net profit of 1.7 billion dollars in the three months to December.
Market players also moved to take profits after two days of rallies across Asia.
Shanghai finished 0.28 percent, or 8.53 points, lower at 2,995.31 due to a sell-off in banks after Beijing said it had no plans to inject cash into three major state-run lenders, dealers said.
China Business News reported on Thursday that Central Huijin Investment, the domestic arm of the country's sovereign wealth fund, was not planning to increase its holdings in major banks.
Earlier media reports had suggested Huijin was planning to increase its stakes in banks including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of China.
Hong Kong shed 1.84 percent, or 380.44 points, to 20,341.64.
Sydney ended 0.59 percent, or 27.2 points, off at 4,621.6 following weaker than expected retail data.
Miner BHP Billiton fell 1.2 percent to 40.99 Australian dollars and rival Rio Tinto fell 2.6 percent to 70.12.
"There is hesitancy hanging over the market, despite the fact that we've had a couple of good days recently after two weeks of consistent falls across the market," Shaw Stockbroking dealer Jamie Spiteri told Dow Jones Newswires.
Asian bourses had little direction from Wall Street, which dipped 0.26 percent as New York traders also booked profits there.
However, some markets were off their earlier lows as investors moved in to pick up cheap shares.
Investors were also anticipating January employment data in the US, after the private-sector payrolls firm ADP reported that the economy shed fewer jobs than expected.
ADP's survey said US private sector job losses narrowed to 22,000 in January, better than the consensus forecast of 30,000.
The dollar edged down to 90.89 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 90.99 yen in New York late Wednesday. The euro stood at 1.3890 dollars after 1.3889 and edged down to 126.31 yen from 126.38.
Oil extended losses in Asian trade. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, fell 15 cents to 76.83 dollars per barrel.
London's Brent North Sea crude for March was down 22 cents to 75.70 dollars.
Hong Kong gold was at 1,105.50-1,106.50 US dollars an ounce, down from Wednesday's close of 1,121.50-1,122.50 US dollars.
In other markets:
-- Seoul ended almost unchanged, with the KOSPI edging up 1.40 points to 1,616.42.
Hyundai Motor rose 3.6 percent to 116,000 won and Kia Motors advanced 2.9 percent to 21,100 won on news earlier in the week of market share gains in the United States.
-- Singapore closed 0.72 percent, or 19.86 points, lower at 2,744.98.
Singapore Airlines eased 12 cents to 14.40 Singapore dollars and Singapore Telecom dipped one cent to 2.98.
-- Taipei closed flat, edging 5.94 points lower to 7,542.04.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co dropped 1.17 percent to 59.1 Taiwan dollars and rival United Microelectronics Corp was off 0.9 percent at 16.5.
-- Wellington rose 0.44 percent, or 13.83 points, to 3,148.94 despite unemployment rising to 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter from 6.5 percent in the previous three months.
The figure, which was the highest since June 1999, was much higher than the forecast 6.8 percent. Stocks were boosted as the jobs data sent the local currency lower, helping exporters.
-- Jakarta closed 0.43 percent, or 11.32 points, to 2,593.22.
-- Kuala Lumpur dipped 0.17 percent, or 2.13 points, to 1,265.03.
Glove maker Supermax was down 3.40 percent to 5.14 ringgit and Shell slid 1.70 percent to 10.52.
-- Manila closed 1.04 percent, or 30.06 points, higher at 2,914.87.
SM Investments Corp. rose 3.12 percent to 330 pesos while First Philippine Holdings Corp. gained 2.1 percent to 48.50 pesos.
Top-traded Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. bucked the trend, falling 0.57 percent to 2,580 pesos.
-- Bangkok closed 0.72 percent, or 5.13 points, lower at 702.52.
PTT Plc fell 3.00 baht to close at 222.00 baht but Banpu rose 10.00 baht to 558.00 baht.
