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Tokyo, Korea head into the red
TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese stocks are lower at midday Tuesday as investors sell blue chips after a drop on Wall Street and concerns about pension fund selling. The Nikkei 225 average finished the morning session down 2.11 percent at 7800.85, erasing the gains of the previous two trading days. The broader capital-weighted Topix index is down 1.39 percent at 790.63. Among other Asian markets, South Korea is down even more sharply, with the Kospi off about 2.5 percent. Taiwan is also in the red, down about 1.27 percent. Hong Kong, too, is weaker as investors fret about the impact of the continuing SARS disease outbreak on China and its neighbors. The Hang Seng index is down 0.6 percent to 8527.91. Australia is up about 0.7 percent on its first trading day since Thursday after the Easter holiday break. Singapore is ahead about 0.4 percent and New Zealand is virtually flat, slipping just 0.06 percent into the red. "The biggest reason for the fall was Wall Street's somewhat weak performance and people are still taking a wait-and-see attitude towards blue chips ahead of earnings," Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi, a strategist at Daiwa Securities, told Reuters news agency. On Wall Street Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.10 percent to 8328.90, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.08 percent to 1424.37. (Full story) Worries about pension fund selling continue to pressure widely held shares such as Sony Corp and Toyota Motor Corp. Sony, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, is down 2.33 percent to 3780 yen after announcing it would invest about $1.66 billion with its Sony Computer Entertainment unit in advanced chip production facilities. (Full story) Toyota, Japan's No. 1 carmaker, is down 0.38 percent at 2625 yen. Nissan is off 2.22 percent to 880 yen and Honda is 2.34 percent lower at 3760 yen after naming Takeo Fukui as its new president. Takeda Chemical Industries is up 0.49 percent to 4100 yen after a report it would post a 12th consecutive record operating profit in the year from this month. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone NTT DoCoMo, is down 2.4 percent to 243,000 yen. Big banks are also in the red. Mizuho Financial Group is showing the steepest loss, down 4.12 percent to a record low of 65,200 yen. SMFG is off 3.14 percent to 185,000 yen, MTFG is down 2.88 percent to 404,000 yen and UFJ is 2.36 percent lower at 95,300 yen. In Seoul, the Kospi is 2.5 percent lower at 605.44. Samsung Electronics is off 3 percent to 299,500 won and Hyundai Motor is down 4 percent to 28,800 won. SK Telecom is 3.6 percent weaker at 174,500 won after the SK Group outlined a rescue plan Monday for its embattled trading arm, SK Global. But a go-ahead for the plan is dependent on an audit of SK Global being conducted by its creditors. (Full story) In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is up 0.7 percent to 2973.9. Media group News Corp is ahead 1.65 percent to A$11.07, while resources leader BHP Billiton is also higher. Leading bank NAB is up almost 1 percent to A$32.38. But carrier Qantas Airways is down 1 percent to A$3.11. In Singapore, the Straits Times is 0.38 percent higher at 1276.06, with a gain for DBS Group after posting earnings. But SingTel is down 1.38 percent to S$1.43. Its SingPost unit said Monday it was going ahead with a share offer valued at up to S$684 million ( Full story) In Taiwan, the Taiex is off 1.3 percent to 4587.35, with big falls for tech issues. Chip foundry TSMC is down 2.7 percent to T$47.00 and UMC is off 2.76 percent to T$21.10. In New Zealand, the Top 50 is 0.06 percent lower at 1969.23. Air New Zealand is 2.5 percent higher and Telecom NZ is also slightly in the black. But Carter Holt Harvey is down 1.22 percent to NZ$1.62.
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