Xinhua summary of Asia-Pacific stocks news at 1200 GMT, March 9

Seoul shares ended lower on Monday.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 20.12 points, or 1 percent, to 1,992.82 at the close. Trading volume stood at 292.97 million shares worth 3.94 trillion won (3.55 billion U.S. dollars).

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TOKYO -- Tokyo shares ended lower on Monday due to a downgrade of the country's economic growth for the fourth quarter in 2014.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 180.45 points, or 0.95 percent, to 18,790.55.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 9.08 points, or 0.59 percent, at 1, 531.76.

The turnover was about 2,194.9 billion yen (about 18.15 billion U.S. dollars).

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BEIJING -- Chinese shares closed higher on Monday, led by a strong performance by bank and insurance shares.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.89 percent to finish at 3,302.41 points. The Shenzhen Component Index advanced 1. 24 percent to close at 11,533.23 points.

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MANILA -- Philippine shares closed 0.52 percent lower on Monday.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index decreased by 41. 04 points to 7820.29. The all-share index went down by 20.62 points, or 0.45 percent, to 4545.37.

Trading volume reached 2.19 billion shares worth 8.32 billion pesos (188.59 million U.S. dollars).

There were 69 gainers, 112 losers while 47 stocks closed flat.

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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong stocks moved down 40.95 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 24,123.05 points on Monday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 23,910.16 and 24, 205.86. Turnover totaled 76.46 billion HK dollars (about 9.85 billion U.S.dollars).

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TAIPEI -- Taiwan's share prices closed down 0.85 percent Monday with the weighted index down 82.79 points at 9,562.98, according to news reaching here from Taipei.

Turnover totaled 84.24 billion new Taiwan dollars (2.67 billion U.S.dollars) during the trading session.

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DHAKA -- Bangladesh's DSE (Dhaka Stock Exchange) Broad Index closed Monday at 4,631.16 points, down 6.21 points or about 0.13 percent from Sunday's finish.

Among a total of 299 issues traded, 147 registered gains and 107 incurred losses while 45 remained unchanged.

Total turnover decreased to about 2.49 billion taka (about 27. 75 million U.S. dollars) on Monday from about 2.49 billion taka ( about 31. 93 million dollars) on Sunday.

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HANOI -- Stock market index of Vietnam's capital Hanoi, HNX- Index, closed at 85.9 points on Monday, down 0.89 points, or 1.03 percent, against the previous closing session.

A total of 38.078 million shares worth 494.645 billion Vietnamese dong (23.17 million U.S. dollars) were traded at the Hanoi Stock Exchange on Monday, a decrease of 12.9 percent in volume and 5.72 percent in value against the previous closing session.

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JAKARTA -- Indonesian shares closed lower by 70.15 points, or 1. 27 percent, to a level of 5,444.63 on Monday.

Some 261,236 transactions were booked, involving 5.34 billion shares worth 6.34 trillion rupiah (about 508.70 million U.S. dollars).

Losers led gainers 313 to 106 with 104 remaining stagnant.

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KUALA LUMPUR -- The Malaysian stock market ended lower here on Monday.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) was at 1,791.74, down 15.22 points or 0.85 percent, and the Emas dropped 90.56 points or 0.73 percent to 12,350.40.

Turnover declined to 2.14 billion shares valued at 1.87 billion ringgit Malaysia (508.29 million U.S. dollars), compared with 2.01 billion shares valued at 1.93 billion ringgit Malaysia (528.12 million U.S. dollars) on Friday.

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SINGAPORE -- Singapore stocks finished lower on Monday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) down 12.94 points, or 0.38 percent, to close at 3,404.57.

A total of 1.18 billion shares changed hands with turnover of 1. 21 billion Singapore dollars (889.7 million U.S. dollars).

The STI index gained 22.24 points, or 0.66 percent, to close at 3,417.51 on Friday.

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BANGKOK -- The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index Monday moved down 8.58 points, or 0.55 percent to close at 1,559.71 points.

Some 9.54 billion shares worth 39.88 billion baht (about 1.23 billion U.S. dollars) changed hands.

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MUMBAI -- India's S&P BSE Sensex dropped over 600 points on Monday, following a sharp cut in Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar and fears that the U.S. may go an earlier than expected rate hike.

The 30-share index closed at 28,844.78, 604.71 points or 2.05 percent, down from previous close of 29,448.95 points. Endi