China’s environment ministry has suspended construction of two ambitious hydropower dams in the upper Yangtze River region, saying the projects were illegal because they were started without necessary environmental assessments.

Share prices closed the morning lower due to the general perception that the outlook for Wall Street will remain unstable, in spite of its strong gains overnight, dealers said.

Share prices were lower after Wall Street's decline, but off their lows with H-shares outperforming, amid general investor caution towards the weekend, dealers said.

Prices of American Depositary Receipts in Asian companies closed lower, as technology and telecoms pressured Asia lower, dealers said.