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Tokyo down in mixed Asian day
TOKYO, Japan -- Asian stocks are mixed at midday Tuesday, giving back some of the gains made Monday after the raid into central Baghdad by U.S. forces. There are falls in Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong, but markets are higher in Australia, South Korea and Taiwan. Investors are also pondering the outcome of a U.S. bombing raid on a Baghdad neighborhood where Saddam Hussein and his sons may have been meeting. U.S. officials say they don't know who was killed in the strike, but believe the intelligence leading to the raid was "very good". In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average is down 1.22 percent to 8149.45 at midday Tuesday, after climbing 2.2 percent Monday. The broader Topix index is off 0.71 percent to 804.83. South Korea's Kospi, which led the region on Monday with a gain of 5 percent, is up another 1.15 percent to 592.65, after dipping at the opening. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is showing the region's biggest fall, down about 1.27 percent to 8848.18. Big Japanese exporters such as Toyota and Nissan are down more than 2 percent at the end of the morning session in Tokyo. Banks such as Mizuho, UFJ MTFG and SMFG, which had rallied Monday, are losing ground again. Mizuho is showing the worst fall, down 4.24 percent to 74,500 yen. Tech-related stocks such as Kyocera, Toshiba, NEC and Hitachi are also lower. Sony is down 1.67 percent to 4120 yen. Another consumer electronics maker, Matsushita Electric Industrial is down 0.88 percent to 1019 yen after it said Monday it would post a net loss for a second straight year. (Full story) The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, is 2.08 percent higher at 245,000 yen. Asia's mixed performance follows the relatively modest gains made on Wall Street Monday, where the Dow Jones industrial average closed 0.28 percent higher at 8,300, down from a session high of 8,520. (Full story) The dollar is trading at about 119.93 yen in Asian trade at midday, down from Monday's high of 120.89 yen. In South Korea, the gainers include blue chips such as Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom. Big steelmaker Posco is showing one of the strongest gains, up 4.37 percent to 107,500 won. Australia's S&P/ASX200 is 0.12 percent higher at 2982.9. Market heavyweight News Corp has recovered from an early fall to be 0.6 percent higher at A$11.70. But big bank National Australia Bank remains in the red. Telstra, Qantas and BHP Billiton are firmer. Miner MIM, the subject of a friendly takeover bid by Swiss-based Xstrata, is 5.6 percent higher at A$1.69, below the implied A$1.72 value of the bid. (Full story) New Zealand's Top 50 is flat, trading just into the black, with a modest gain for Telecom New Zealand. Singapore's Straits Times index is down about 0.4 percent to 1333.42, led by falls for Singapore Airlines and banking group DBS. SingTel is up slightly at S$1.44. In Taiwan, techs and industrials are broadly higher, pushing the Taiex up about 0.41 percent to 4594.65. Chip foundries TSMC and UMC are firmer, while Formosa Plastic is unchanged at T$48.00. VIA Technologies is up almost 7 percent to T$38.50 after settling a patent dispute with Intel. (Full story) In Hong Kong, an economy already hard hit by the SARS virus is pushing the market down. Property stocks such as Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson are more than 2 percent weaker. China Mobile and China Unicom are also down, as are PCCW and banking leader HSBC. Reuters contributed to this report.
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