Asia-Pac airlines close weaker

SHARES of Asia-Pacific carriers closed slightly lower yesterday after the news that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 had gone down in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Malaysia Airlines saw the biggest fall, shedding 2.5 sen to close at 20 sen yesterday, albeit recovering from an intra-day low of 18.5 sen. This is still above the 15.5 sen that the counter fell to on May 19 and significantly lower than the 32 sen the stock was trading at in early January.

Shares in Singapore Airlines closed one Singapore cent lower at S$10.49, while Cathay Pacific ended the day's trading at HK$14.40, down eight HK cents. Japan Airlines gave up 40 yen to close at 5,940 yen and Air New Zealand was down five NZ cents to close at NZ$1.95. However, Australia's Qantas Airways bucked the trend to gain one Australian cent and close at A$1.25.