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Tokyo tumbles into the red
TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese stocks tumbled to a sharply lower close Tuesday as investors dumped blue chips after a drop on Wall Street and concerns about pension fund selling. The Nikkei 225 average finished the day down 2.24 percent at 7790.46, erasing the gains of the previous two trading days. At one point it dipped to 7747.86, below the 20-year closing low of 7752.10 seen on April 14. The broader capital-weighted Topix index fell 1.78 percent to end at 787.49. Big banks led the falls, with Mizuho down 5.7 percent to another record low. Key exporters Sony, Toyota and NEC also slipped. Among other Asian markets, South Korea ended down even more sharply, with the Kospi off 2.82 percent. Taiwan was also in the red, down 1.98 percent. Hong Kong, too, was weaker as investors fretted about the impact of the continuing SARS disease outbreak on China and its neighbors. (Full story) The Hang Seng index finished the day down 0.08 percent to 8571.91 after falling almost 1 percent earlier. Australia put on 0.92 percent for its first trading day since Thursday after the Easter holiday break. But New Zealand slipped into the red, down 0.3 percent to 1964.43. Singapore ended flat, ahead 0.24 percent. "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 continued to pressure widely held shares such as Sony and Toyota. Sony, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, ended down 2.07 percent to 3790 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, was down 2.47 percent at 2570 yen. Nissan fell 1.89 percent to 883 yen and Honda was 1.82 percent lower at 3780 yen after naming Takeo Fukui as its new president. (Full story) Takeda Chemical Industries fell 1.23 percent to 4030 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, was down 3.6 percent to 240,000 yen. Big banks were again among the hardest hit stocks on concerns about their long-term health. Mizuho Financial Group posted the steepest loss, down 5.74 percent to a record low of 64,100 yen. SMFG was off 5.24 percent to 181,000 yen, MTFG fell 3.6 percent to 401,000 yen and UFJ was 3.69 percent lower at 94,000 yen. Korea down sharplyIn Seoul, the Kospi closed 2.82 percent lower at 603.32 for the region's heaviest fall. Samsung Electronics was off 3.4 percent to 298,500 won and Hyundai Motor ended down 3.67 percent to 28,900 won. SK Telecom was 3.87 percent weaker at 174,000 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) Hong Kong blue chips were mainly lower, with modest falls for big bank HSBC and mobile telco China Unicom. Its bigger rival China Mobile, which reported first quarter profits on Tuesday, was up 0.32 percent to HK$15.50. (Full story). The focus later this week is on China Telecom, which reports full year results on Thursday. It fell 2 percent to HK$1.41. Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific was up 2.27 percent to HK$9.00. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 put on 0.92 percent to 2980.4. Media group News Corp was ahead 1.47 percent to A$11.05, while resources leader BHP Billiton rose about 1 percent to A$9.54. Leading bank NAB closed up 1.28 percent to A$32.50. But carrier Qantas Airways was down 1 percent to A$3.11. In Singapore, the Straits Times closed 0.24 percent higher at 1274.37, with a gain for DBS Group after posting earnings. Southeast Asia's largest bank climbed five cents to $8.80. But SingTel is down 2.07 percent to S$1.42. 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 ended off 1.98 percent to 4556.10, with big falls for tech issues. Chip foundry TSMC was down 2.7 percent to T$47.00 and UMC was off 2.76 percent to T$21.10. In New Zealand, the Top 50 finished 0.3 percent lower at 1964.43. Air New Zealand was 2.5 percent higher and Telecom NZ closed unchanged at NZ$4.58. But Carter Holt Harvey lost 1.83 percent to NZ$1.61.
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