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Nikkei plunges to 20-year low
TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo's Nikkei plunged to a fresh 20-year closing low on Friday as worried investors turned their attention from Iraq to the health of the global economy. The Nikkei 225 average dropped rapidly in the afternoon session to finish 2.05 percent lower at 7816.49, extending its losses into a fourth day and dipping to a level not seen since January 1983. The broader Topix was off 1.28 percent to 782.25, with big falls for blue chips Toyota and Sony. In contrast, South Korea was the region's best performer, closing 0.9 percent higher after being up almost 3 percent earlier in the day. Most other markets in Asia closed higher, with small gains for Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand. Taiwan ended in the red. That follows a hesitant performance on Wall Street Thursday, where after a choppy day, the markets closed higher. The Dow Jones industrial average put on 0.29 percent to 8221.33 and the Nasdaq composite added 0.65 percent to 1365.61. (Full story) In Tokyo, Sony, Toyota and other Japanese exporters slipped on concerns about weak consumer demand in key markets such as the United States. Another drag on the market was companies returning part of their pension funds to the government. Japan's leading consumer electronics maker Sony closed 3.58 percent down at a four-year low of 3770 yen. The other big maker, Matsushita Electric Industrial, fell 3.44 percent to 927 yen after announcing Friday it was expanding its operations in Vietnam. (Full story) The country's biggest carmaker Toyota dropped 3.85 percent to 2500 yen, a seven-year low. Tech-related stocks NEC, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Hitachi and Kyocera were all lower. Suzuki Motor, which announced a tieup with Italy's Fiat to build SUVs in Hungary, lost 1.76 percent to 1399 yen. (Full story) But there were also some gains. Yahoo Japan put on 3.45 percent to 1.2 million yen and NTT added 0.24 percent to 415,000 yen. The market's biggest stock, NTT DoCoMo, was down 2.06 percent to 238,000 yen after reports it would extend a $314 million loan to Hutchison 3G Holdings in the UK. (Full story) Among the big banks Mizuho, UFJ and SMFG all finished higher, with SMFG jumping 8.33 percent to 195,000 yen. MTFG lost 1.7 percent. Big retailer Ito Yokado, which controls 7 Eleven in Japan, closed almost 8 percent lower at 2945 yen. South Korea higherIn Seoul, the Kospi put on 0.91 percent to 582.97, after being almost 3 percent higher at 597.02 earlier. There were solid gains for SK Telecom. But Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics both finished in the red after climbing at the start. Kookmin Bank led the way for financial stocks, up 4.3 percent to 32,850 won. Big steelmaker Posco dipped 0.95 percent to 104,000 won ahead of earnings.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 finished up slightly, with a gain of 0.13 percent to 2949.0. News Corp., which saw its shares fall almost 9 percent Thursday after it clinched a $6.6 billion deal to take control of DirecTV, lost more ground. It closed 0.47 percent lower at A$10.65. Telstra was up 1.19 percent to A$4.24 and BHP Billiton rose 0.97 percent to A$9.34 after unveiling a $750 million global bond issue. (Full story) Qantas Airways ended 1 percent higher at A$3.12 after regulators in Australia and New Zealand delivered negative findings against a proposed alliance with Air New Zealand. (Full story) New Zealand's Top 50 was up 0.64 percent to 1959.83. Air New Zealand finished flat at NZ$0.45, while Telecom NZ rose 1.09 percent to NZ$4.62. Singapore's Straits Times index closed 0.39 percent higher at 1301.02, with gains for SingTel, Singapore Airlines and banking leader DBS Group. But Star Cruises, the world's fourth-largest cruise liner, sank 5.1 percent to $0.185 on news a crew member on one of ships was suspected of contracting SARS. Taiwan's Taiex ended down 0.24 percent to 4530.40. The market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, closed 0.67 percent higher at T$44.80. Its smaller rival UMC rose 1 percent to T$20.50. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index finished 0.23 percent higher at 8645.65. There were modest gains for banking leader HSBC, conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, and telcos PCCW and China Mobile. Cathay Pacific was unchanged at HK$8.95 after the airline warned its earnings were under pressure from low passenger traffic because of SARS and the Iraq conflict.
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