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Nikkei extends losing run
TOKYO, Monday -- Japan's Nikkei has again set a 20-year closing low, dipping 0.82 percent on Monday to 7752.10 and extending its fall to a fifth straight day. Investor pessimism extended to the broader Topix, which fell 0.85 percent to 775.61. Blue chips came under selling pressure from corporate pension funds, with Toyota and DoCoMo both down. Japan's weak performance was in sharp contrast to South Korea, where the Kospi put on almost 2 percent. Most other Asian markets closed weaker, with falls for Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and Taiwan, but a gain of more than 1 percent for New Zealand. Airlines across Asia were lower as the SARS virus talks its toll on passenger traffic. There were big falls for Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines, China Eastern and China Southern. Tokyo's Nikkei has now lost about six percent in five trading days and is at its lowest close since January 1983. Investors have turned their attention from Iraq to worries about the strength of U.S. consumer demand and the impact on Japan's export-driven economy. Both the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones industrial average finished lower on Wall Street on Friday. (Full story) Also weighing on the market in Japan was further selling by private pension funds. Big exporter Toyota, which touched a seven-year low last Friday, was down another 0.8 percent to 2480 yen. But rival carmakers Honda and Nissan managed small gains. Consumer electronics leader Sony was up 1.06 percent to 3810 yen from Friday's multi-year low. Tech-related issues ended mainly lower, with falls of 4.3 percent for NEC and 3.75 percent for Kyocera. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company to NTT DoCoMo, dipped 3.78 percent to 229,000 yen. In the banking sector, UFJ Holdings fell 5.34 percent to 97,500 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group plunged 6.67 percent to 182,000 yen. Mizuho lost 3.8 percent to 68,100 yen, taking it within a whisker of its April 4 record low of 68,000 yen. South Korea stronger
In South Korea, the Kospi firmed 1.96 percent to 594.40. SK Telecom was up sharply, putting on 6.36 percent to 183,000 won after Monaco-based fund Sovereign Asset Management said it was a long-term investor in oil refiner SK Corp. (Full story) KT Corp was another big mover, up 5 percent to 47,250 won. Blue chips Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics also closed higher. Big steelmaker Posco put on 3.85 percent to 108,000 won. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 finished down 0.27 percent to 2940.9. Leading bank NAB was down 0.87 percent to A$31.92. It fell more than 2 percent last Friday after warning that its full-year earnings were likely to be at the lower end of the range. Market heavyweight News Corp finished 2.54 percent higher at A$10.92. It sold its 45 percent-held New Zealand newspaper business INL to rival publisher John Fairfax for $645 million. (Full story) Telstra dropped 0.47 percent to A$4.22. Earlier in the day it announced that it and Hong Kong partner PCCW had reached agreement with banks on a refinancing deal for their Reach joint venture. (Full story) New Zealand's Top 50 ended 1.12 percent higher at 1981.71. Telecom NZ led the way, with a gain of 2.38 percent to NZ$4.73. Carter Holt Harvey was flat at NZ$1.62. Taiwan's Taiex was down 1.56 percent to 4459.81, with a 2.7 percent fall to T$43.60 for chip foundry TSMC and a 3.4 percent drop to T$19.80 for smaller rival UMC. Singapore's Straits Times is about 1.36 percent lower to 1283.35 heading towards the close. Banking leader DBS Group is down about 2.2 percent to S$8.85. Singapore Airlines is off 3.35 percent to S$8.65. SingTel is moving against the trend, up 2.1 percent higher to S$1.45. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index finished 1.3 percent lower, with a broad decline for blue chips. Embattled airline Cathay Pacific plunged 6.15 percent to HK$8.40 after it denied reports of a plan to shut down passenger operations because of the impact of the SARS virus. (Full story) PCCW was 0.55 percent lower at HK$4.52 after concluding the bank deal on its Reach joint venture. China Mobile and China Unicom were also in the red Big bank HSBC ended down 0.6 percent to HK$82.50.
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