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Nikkei falls to 20-year low
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian markets are tumbling in Friday trade, with Japan's Nikkei falling to a 20-year low at midday and Korea down more than 4 percent. The sharp falls by techs, exporters and banks follow a drop on Wall Street amid pessimism about U.S. and global economic prospects. Security concerns involving North Korea are also making North Asian investors nervous. South Korea's Kospi is showing the steepest decline, down 4.38 percent to 562.63, with hefty losses for the market's biggest stocks, Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom and Hyundai Motor. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average is down 2.16 percent at midday to 7685.28, its lowest intra-day figure for more than 20 years. Its sharp selloff comes after a gain of 0.79 percent on Thursday. The broader capital-weighted Topix index is down 1.58 percent at 781.92. Also weighing on the market are the latest Japanese jobless figures, showing a rise to 5.4 percent in March from the previous month's 5.2 percent. (Full story) There are falls of 2.2 percent for Taiwan and about 1 percent each for Singapore and Hong Kong. Markets in Australia and New Zealand are closed Friday for the Anzac Day holiday. In Tokyo, the big four banks are in the red again, with hefty falls for Mizuho, MTFG, SMFG and UFJ. Mizuho is down 3.67 percent to a record low of 60,300 yen. MTFG is down 5.2 percent to 365,000 yen and UFJ is off 4 percent to 88,200 yen. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, is down 2.4 percent to 245,000 yen. Japan Telecom is moving against the trend with a gain of 0.3 percent to 319,000 yen. Consumer electronics leader Sony Corp is untraded after posting full year earnings Thursday of 115.5 billion yen. Sony slashed its profit outlook for the year ahead on projected weaker demand for its products. Tech-related stocks are broadly weaker, with Fujitsu off more than 4 percent to 321 yen at midday. Hitachi and Toshiba are down between 3 to 4 percent and Fuji Photo Film is off 1.85 percent at 3190 yen. Automakers Toyota and Nissan are posting losses of around 2.5 percent, while Honda is down 5.2 percent to 3650 yen. Wall Street faltered Thursday after a lackluster forecast from health insurer AFLAC. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 0.89 percent lower at 8440.04 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was down 0.61 percent to 1457.23. (Full story) South Korea lowerIn Seoul, the outcome of the talks in Beijing between North Korea, China and the U.S. is weighing on the market. North Korea has said during the talks that it has a nuclear weapon. (Full story) Hyundai Motor is posting one of the biggest losses, down 4.9 percent to 25,850 won. Samsung Electronics is off 2.7 percent to 287,000 won and SK Telecom is down 4.9 percent to 155,500 won. Giant steelmaker Posco is also showing a steep fall, off almost 5 percent to 96,500 won. Big banks Kookmin and Shinhan are down 4.9 percent and 4.8 percent respectively. In Taiwan, the Taiex is off 2.28 percent to 4275.29 as techs move broadly lower. Chip foundry TSMC, the market's biggest stock, is down 2.33 percent to T$46.20. UMC is off about 2 percent to T$20.20. Singapore's Straits Times index is down 1.2 percent to 1227.80 near midday. Big bank DBS Group is 2.37 percent lower at S$8.25 and Singapore Airlines is off 0.6 percent to S$8.35. In Hong Kong, where the SARS virus continues to exact a deadly toll, the Hang Seng index is 0.8 percent lower at 8374.20. Blue chips are trading in a narrow range, with big bank HSBC down 0.9 percent to HK$82.00 and China Mobile down 1 percent to HK$14.70.
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