Hong Kong stocks end 0.29% lower

HONG Kong shares have ended 0.29 per cent lower after a rally in the previous two sessions was capped by concerns the US Federal Reserve will end its monetary easing scheme earlier than expected.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index shed 67.51 points to 23,331.09 at Friday's close on turnover of HK$77.49 billion ($10.0 billion).

However, the slight dip after rising 3.3 per cent over Wednesday and Thursday was just "a healthy technical correction", said KGI Asia chief operating officer Ben Kwong.

"The two drivers for the Hong Kong market's uptrend - the China recovery story and abundant liquidity - remain intact," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

While fiscal cliff woes have been put off, minutes from the Fed's December meeting show a growing bias towards some policy tightening this year, with some members looking to end its asset purchases during 2013 and others by the end of the year.

The Fed in September unveiled its third bond-buying scheme - called quantitative easing (QE3) - to boost growth, saying it would not stop until the economy was up on its feet. And in December it added to that scheme.

Banking giant HSBC fell 1.56 per cent to HK$82.00, China Mobile slipped 0.87 per cent to HK$90.65 and Haitong Securities fell 3.3 per cent to HK$12.96.

Mainland developer Hopson rose 10.5 per cent to HK$16.06 and bourse operator Hongkong Exchanges also outperformed, closing 2.0 per cent higher at HK$142.60.

Chinese shares closed up 0.35 per cent on their first day of trade for the year, following a near three per cent rise in the previous two sessions.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 7.86 points to 2,276.99 on turnover of 114.6 billion yuan $US18.4 billion ($A17.66 billion).

The index gained 1.96 per cent in this week's two trading sessions - the market was closed from Tuesday for a three-day New Year holiday.

Analysts said sentiment was boosted by hopes for a rebound in the domestic economy after an improvement in manufacturing activity, but investors also expect Beijing to unveil pro-growth policies next month.

Steel makers gained after an industry group said manufacturing activity and new orders in the sector recovered in December.

Luyin Investment Group surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 5.70 yuan while Fangda Special Steel Technology jumped 7.71 per cent to 4.19 yuan.

Construction companies ended higher. China Railway Construction gained 8.69 per cent to 6.38 yuan while China Railway Group rose 5.92 per cent to 3.22 yuan.

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China fines LG, Samsung, 4 others

CHINESE regulators have fined South Korean companies LG and Samsung and four Taiwanese companies on charges they fixed prices of flat panel screens sold to Chinese manufacturers.

The government announced on Friday that LG, Samsung and the Taiwanese companies were ordered to repay a total of 172 million yuan ($A25.91 million) to Chinese customers.

In addition, the companies were fined a total of 144 million yuan.

The Chinese Cabinet's economic planning agency said investigators found representatives of the six companies met dozens of times in 2001-06 to agree on prices to charge for flat-panel screens.

It said that improperly raised costs for Chinese manufacturers.

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Death report as Tas bushfire razes homes

TASMANIAN police say they are not able to confirm reports of a death in a huge bushfire in the state's south that has already destroyed homes, a school and an RSL club.

They say up to 65 buildings could have been damaged or destroyed in the small community of Dunalley, 56km southeast of Hobart.

They include the local school, RSL club, service station and houses, ABC television reported.

Around 15 houses at nearby Boomer Bay could also have been lost as the impact of catastrophic fire conditions in southern Tasmania begins to emerge.

Tasmania Police commissioner Scott Tilyard said no death had been confirmed.

"It really has the status of a rumour at this stage," he told the ABC.

But as a police boat was being sent to rescue people taking refuge on the waterfront at the top of the Tasman Peninsula, damage to property was becoming clearer.

"Reports are of anything up to about 65 buildings may have been impacted by the fire and that is the area where there has been an unconfirmed report that possibly there might have been one life lost," Mr Tilyard said.

Around 50 people were awaiting the arrival of the police vessel to help them evacuate but were safe, he said.

Huge plumes of smoke were visible from Hobart on Friday as the island capital sweltered through its hottest day on record.

Accompanying winds whipped up the two largest blazes that had started on Thursday; at Forcett, near Dunalley, and Lake Repulse near Mt Field National Park northwest of Hobart.

Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) Chief Officer Mike Brown said conditions on Friday had reached the catastrophic level in the rating system developed after the Black Saturday fires in Victoria.

"We reached catastrophic fire danger ratings at times during this afternoon," Chief Officer Brown told reporters.

"I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet.

On a day Hobart hit a top temperature of 41.8C - smashing the previous record of 40.8 set in 1976 - up to 40 fires were burning around the state.

The TFS used its emergency phone warning system to ask residents to leave the affected areas and police said around 80 per cent had chosen to go.

Near Dunalley, the TFS said it was too late to leave the communities of Connellys Marsh or Primrose Sands.

Those at Connellys Marsh were being advised the nearby beach was a safer option for them.

Carlton River Road was considered impassable and Primrose Sands residents were also being told to head to the nearby beach.

The popular Port Arthur tourist area was cut off after police closed the Arthur Highway, isolating the Tasman Peninsula.

The second major fire, which authorities suspect was started by a campfire, is affecting communities including Broad River, Jones River and Ellendale.

Late on Friday afternoon, the TFS upgraded a warning for another fire near Bicheno in that area.

Campers were being evacuated and residents were being encouraged to act on their bushfire plans or leave.

A large grass fire at Epping Forest in the state's north was also causing concern.

A mild southerly change was due in Hobart around midnight after conditions considered worse than 2006/7 when houses were lost on the state's east coast.

The change is unlikely to bring rain but could ignite more fires with lightning strikes, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

"Lighter winds tomorrow and milder temperatures and higher relative humidities will be of help," senior forecaster Malcolm Downing told AAP on Friday.

Hobart hit 41.8C at 4.05pm (AEDT), its highest temperature since record keeping started in 1883.

Authorities say smoke is likely to be visible for several hours and people sensitive to it should stay indoors.

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Nikkei up 2.82% on first trading day

TOKYO stocks have closed up 2.82 per cent on the first trading day of 2013, as the yen tumbles on relief over a US deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and huge spending cuts.

The Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which ended 2012 at its highest level since the March 2011 quake and tsunami disaster, added 292.93 points on Friday to 10,688.11.

The Topix index of all first-section issues gained 3.34 per cent or 28.71 points to 888.51.

"Japan's markets are opening relatively late after the US government acted, and thus they stand to benefit from the news as well as the enthusiastic response from other bourses," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Global markets rallied after the US House of Representatives late on Tuesday passed a deal between the White House and Republicans to raise taxes on the rich and put off automatic $US109 billion ($A104.61 billion) budget cuts for two months.

The deal lifted the clouds of immediate crisis, sending the yen to its lowest level since July 2010 against the dollar.

The dollar rose to 87.73 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, up from 87.19 yen in New York on Thursday afternoon. The euro was at 114.35 yen and $1.3034 from 113.80 yen and $1.3052.

The market is watching the next moves by Congress and President Barack Obama.

CLSA equity strategist Nicholas Smith said: "Thereafter (the) focus will be on who Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe wants to recommend as the new Bank of Japan governor."

Abe, who took office in December, has pressured the central bank to take aggressive easing steps to help drag Japan out of years of deflation and weak growth.

It has spawned speculation he will want someone willing to agree to his inflation target to replace current governor Masaaki Shirakawa, whose five-year tenure ends on April 8.

An equity trading director at a foreign brokerage said: "Players await US jobs figures tonight. There is currently no reason to sell the market, and a good jobs report will fuel more buying."

Friday was also the first trading day for Japan Exchange Group, which brought together The Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange.

"We will aim for Asia's number one exchange that is selected by investors from around the world," the group's chief executive Atsushi Saito said at a ceremony at the Tokyo bourse.

Exporters were higher, with Toyota Motor up 6.36 per cent at 4,260 yen and Nikon up 5.14 per cent at 2,656 yen.

Among financials Nomura Holdings climbed 4.17 per cent to 524 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 3.53 per cent to 3,225 yen.

Embattled electronics firm Sharp fell 2.64 per cent to 295 yen after a report during the New Year break it was considering making a public share offering worth more than Y100 billion ($A1.10 billion) this year.

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Lawyers broaden soy milk class action

HUNDREDS of Australians who fell ill after drinking soy milk containing dangerous levels of iodine have widened their class action to include two Japanese companies.

Bonsoy soy milk was removed from supermarket shelves in late 2009 after 10 people, including a newborn baby, suffered thyroid problems in NSW.

Tests at the time revealed a cup of the milk contained seven times the recommended daily intake of iodine.

Since then, about 600 people have joined a Victorian Supreme Court class action against Spiral Foods, the product's Australian distributor.

An amended statement of claim was lodged in the court last month to include the milk's Japanese manufacturer, Marusan, and exporter, Muso.

Maurice Blackburn senior associate Irina Lubomirska said the two companies had ignored warnings about the milk's iodine content.

"We say that these three companies had test results in mid-2006 which showed that Bonsoy contained extremely high levels of iodine, but they did nothing," Ms Lubomirska said.

"On at least three occasions they were contacted by customers expressing concerns about iodine content of Bonsoy and they did not act to ensure the product was safe."

The matter will return before the court for directions on March 13.

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Consumers warned about NSW cruise company

NSW'S Fair Trading Commissioner has warned people to avoid a cruise company that failed to give customers their night out on Sydney Harbour to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks.

The warning comes after about 150 people found themselves $450 out of pocket when the cruise vessel MV Eve failed to show up at a Darling Harbour ferry wharf.

The advertised six-hour cruise was meant to include a DJ and unlimited food and drink.

NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe on Thursday warned consumers not to deal with Eve Harbour Cruises Pty Ltd or its director, Allen Yousif.

He said the company had failed to provide cruise services on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve for customers who had paid and had since been unable to contact the company to obtain a refund.

Mr Stowe said consumers who continued to deal with Eve Harbour Cruises faced a substantial risk of losing money through similar cancellations.

He said his agency was continuing to investigate the activities of the company and Mr Yousif and urged consumers who had lost money to lodge a complaint with NSW Fair Trading.

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Motorcyclist killed in NSW Hunter

Police will investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a motorcyclist near Newcastle. Source: AAP

A MOTORCYCLIST has been killed in a collision with a four-wheel-drive in NSW's Hunter region, taking the state's holiday road toll to 13 and the national toll to 48.

Police said the man, aged in his 60s, died at the scene following the crash on the Putty Road at Howes Valley about 50km south of Singleton about 5.15pm (AEDT) on Thursday.

The cause of the crash is being investigated and police will prepare a report for the coroner.

Police, meanwhile, have launched an internal investigation into the death of another motorcyclist after a police chase at Heatherbrae, north of Newcastle, on Boxing Day.

Officers stopped the 40-year-old man at an RBT station at Fern Bay and found he did not hold a current rider's licence.

Police said that when the man sped away, officers pursued him for about 15km before his bike crashed into a metal pole on Masonite Road.

The rider was taken to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle in a critical condition and died on Thursday morning.

* The national road toll period runs from 0001 December 23, 2012, until 2359 January 3, 2013, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.

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UN allocates $10m for typhoon victims

THE United Nations has allocated $US10 million ($A9.57 million) for emergency assistance to nearly a million people in the Philippines displaced by typhoon Bopha.

Bopha slammed into the southern region of Mindanao on December 4, triggering floods and landslides that killed 1067 people, leaving 834 still missing and feared dead.

Luiza Carvalho, UN resident and humanitarian co-ordinator, said on Thursday the money would be used for emergency shelter, debris clearing, water and sanitation, nutrition, protection and health services for the victims.

"I was shocked by the scale of the destruction," she said in describing her visit to the affected areas.

"Cities and villages have been completely devastated, with only a few roofless buildings and walls still standing, and entire plantations have been wiped out."

More than 200,000 houses were destroyed by the typhoon, displacing an estimated more than 973,000 people into tents and temporary shelters made from debris and tarpaulins.

The UN earlier appealed for $US65 million in humanitarian aid for the Philippines.

To date, $US38 million has been contributed or pledged, it said.

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Sharp drop in N Korea refugees to South

THE number of North Korean refugees fleeing to the South fell sharply in 2012, officials in Seoul say, with activists citing crackdowns and tighter border controls.

A total of 1508 North Koreans arrived in the South in 2012 - nearly all of them via China - down from 2706 the previous year, the Unification Ministry said on Wednesday.

Activists said the North under new leader Kim Jong-Un had cracked down on people trying to flee the country.

Searches for North Koreans living in hiding in China have also been intensified in co-operation with Chinese security authorities, they said.

"Border guards are under an order from Kim Jong-Un to shoot to kill anyone who attempts to cross the (North Korea-China) border illegally," Pastor Kim Sung-Eun of the Caleb Mission told AFP.

The mission is one of several South Korean Christian evangelist groups which help North Koreans escape and resettle in the South.

Kim said the cost of getting someone out of North Korea had escalated in recent years to around 10 million won ($A9,000) - more than half of which is used to bribe border guards.

A total of 24,613 North Koreans have settled in the South since 1998, the Unification Ministry said, with around half of them unemployed or retirees struggling to make ends meet.

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Indian lawyers shun rape accused

LAWYERS in India say they will refuse to defend the men accused of a fatal gang-rape that sparked protests across the country.

Hearings are expected to begin on Thursday at the Saket district court in south New Delhi, where police will formally present a 1000-page charge sheet against the six accused.

"We have decided that no lawyer will stand up to defend the rape accused as it would be immoral to defend the case," Sanjay Kumar, a lawyer and a member of the Saket District Bar Council, told AFP.

Kumar said the 2500 advocates registered at the court have decided to "stay away" to ensure "speedy justice", meaning the government would have to appoint lawyers for the defendants.

Another lawyer at the court confirmed the boycott to AFP.

Five men are expected to face charges including rape, murder and kidnapping in the Saket court, with the prosecutor likely to seek the death sentence.

A sixth suspect is believed to be 17 years old, meaning he would be tried in a court for juveniles.

The brutality and horrific nature of the attack on a 23-year-old has led to protests in the capital and elsewhere over the widespread abuse of women and sex crime in India.

The rape victim died at the weekend after 13-day struggle to survive injuries so grievous that part of her intestines had to be removed.

She was repeatedly raped on a bus on December 16 before being thrown from the moving vehicle at the end of a 40-minute ordeal.

In 2008, Indian lawyers refused to defend a gunman who took part in attacks on Mumbai which killed 166 people, leaving him with a government-appointed lawyer. He was executed in November last year.

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