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Asia closes in the red
TOKYO, Japan -- Asian stocks closed broadly lower Wednesday, with South Korea's volatile market dropping more than 3 percent and Hong Kong down almost 2 percent. A downturn on Wall Street, worries about the outlook for company earnings and the growing impact of the SARS virus all weighed on investors in Asia, offsetting expectations of an early end to the war in Iraq. Along with Korea and Hong Kong, there were losses in the other major markets of Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore. New Zealand moved against the trend with a small gain. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average dropped 0.91 percent to 8057.61, while the broader Topix index lost just 0.18 percent to 801.17. On Tuesday the Nikkei fell 1.44 percent, largely reversing a gain of 2 percent made on Monday when investors thought they could see hostilities in Iraq ending sooner than expected. But recent weak economic figures out of the United States and Europe have dampened sentiment, with markets ending lower Tuesday on the troubled outlook for corporate profits. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average ended marginally in the red, while the Nasdaq lost about half a percent. (Full story) Japanese tech-related issues and carmakers were down again, but the battered banking sector showed some slight signs of recovery. Big exporter Sony lost 2.43 percent to 4020 yen and Kyocera was off 2.74 percent to 6030 yen. Tokyo Electron fell 2.64 percent to 4430 yen. Among banks, UFJ finished unchanged at 103,000 yen and Mizuho Financial Group gave up some early gains to close 0.14 percent lower at 71,900 yen Mizuho touched a record low of 68,000 yen last Friday. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 0.56 percent to 180,000 yen but MTFG slipped 0.93 percent to 425,000 yen. Leading airline JAL lost 3.6 percent to 215 yen as carriers around the region feel the impact on passenger numbers of the SARS disease and the Iraq war. Toyota, which finished 0.38 percent lower at 2640 yen, said it is expanding its car-making operations in China. (Full story) The market's biggest stock, NTT DoCoMo, was in the black all day, putting on 0.41 percent to 246,000 yen. South Korea downIn South Korea, the benchmark Kospi plunged 3.04 percent to 569.47, with heavy falls for some blue chips. SK Telecom ended down 5.85 percent to 169,000 won and Samsung Electronics was 4.18 percent lower to 286,500 won. Hyundai Motor was off 4.68 percent to 25,450 won. Singapore's Straits Times ended down 1.92 percent at 1,292.85. It has been driven down by a 4.86 percent fall for Singapore Airlines and a 4.79 percent drop for banking leader DBS. Australia's S&P/ASX200 slipped in afternoon trade to finish down 0.95 percent at 2950.5. Media group News Corp rose on hopes that a deal to buy DirecTV is in the offing, closing 0.51 percent higher to A$11.73. (Full story) But airline Qantas tumbled 4.06 percent to A$3.07 after it announced it would cut 1,400 jobs because of the slump in passenger numbers flowing from the war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak. (Full story) Banks are also lower. ANZ Bank ended down 2.85 percent to A$18.05 after confirming it was talking to Thai Military Bank about taking a possible stake of up to 20 percent. (Full story) Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.33 percent to 4537.39, with the market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, down almost 2 percent to T$44.80. China Airlines was down again, off 2.33 percent to T$12.60. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished 1.93 percent lower at 8636.85. Like other airlines in Asia, Cathay Pacific took a heavy fall, down 4.17 percent to HK$9.20. Hutchison Whampoa and China Unicom both ended down more than 2 percent . Big bank HSBC was off 0.9 percent to HK$82.75. New Zealand's Top 50 closed just in the black, up 0.13 percent to 1974.53, despite a 2 percent fall for Air New Zealand. Telecom NZ ended flat at NZ$4.72.
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