Checking elsewhere on the region now: 

 

Japan's Nikkei is down 202 points, the Heng Seng is also losing ground. And the Australian Dollar is currently buying 93.5 US cents. 

 

The construction giant Leighton Holdings has reached a settlement to the shareholder class action over its disclosure practices. Leighton has agreed to pay a total of 69.5 million dollars to thousands of investors who bought shares between August 2010 and April 2011. They claim the company failed to disclose problems at some of its key infrastructure projects that resulted in a series of profit down-grades. Leighton still denies the claim and says the agreement is not an admission of liability. 

 

And official figures show the amount of money borrowed for homes is easing. The figures from the Bureau of Statistics will bill the total value of loans the owner occupies fell 102% from February to March; it coincides with data out early this week that showed a slowdown in house price growth. Today's figures also show amounts borrowed for personal loans also fell during the month by 1.7%.