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Nikkei closes at 20-year low
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian markets tumbled on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei closing at a 20-year low and South Korea down almost 4 percent. The sharp falls by exporters, techs and banks followed a drop on Wall Street amid pessimism about U.S. and global economic prospects. Security concerns involving North Korea also made East Asian investors nervous. South Korea's Kospi showed the steepest decline, down 3.69 percent to 566.63, with hefty losses for the market's biggest stocks, Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom and Hyundai Motor. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average finished 1.97 percent lower at 7699.50, its lowest close since November 1982. At one point it dipped as low as 7660.62. Friday's sharp selloff came after a gain of 0.79 percent on Thursday. The broader capital-weighted Topix index finished down 1.56 percent at 782.03. Also weighing on the market were 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 was a big fall in Taiwan, down 3.23 percent, and a loss of 1.12 percent for Singapore. Hong Kong gave up about 0.4 percent. Markets in Australia and New Zealand were closed Friday for the Anzac Day holiday. In Tokyo, the big four banks finished in the red again, with hefty falls for Mizuho, MTFG, SMFG and UFJ. Mizuho ended down 3.51 percent to a record closing low of 60,400 yen. MTFG likewise plunged 5.45 percent to a record low of 364,000 yen and SMFG gave up 3.95 percent to 170,000 yen. UFJ was off 2.72 percent to 89,400 yen, close to its record low of 86,000 yen reached last November. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, finished 1.6 percent lower at 246,000 yen. KDDI moved against the trend with a gain of 0.85 percent to 354,000 yen. Consumer electronics leader Sony Corp was untraded with sell orders at 3620 yen after investors took a set against it. Sony posted full year earnings of 115.5 billion yen on Thursday and slashed its profit outlook for the year ahead on projected weaker demand for its products. Tech-related stocks were broadly weaker, with Fujitsu off 3.88 percent to 322 yen after predicting it will return to profit in the year ahead. (Full story) Hitachi is down 3.7 percent to 393 yen and Toshiba finished 2.8 percent lower at 314 yen. Fuji Photo Film plummeted 6.46 percent to 3040 yen. Automakers Toyota and Nissan posted falls of around 3.3 percent, while Honda dipped 5.7 percent to 3630 yen ahead of its results. After the close it reported record profits. 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 lower
In Seoul, the outcome of the talks in Beijing between North Korea, China and the U.S. weighed heavily on the market. North Korea said during the talks that it has a nuclear weapon. (Full story) Hyundai Motor posted one of the biggest losses, down 4.96 percent to 25,850 won. Samsung Electronics was off 2.54 percent to 287,500 won and SK Telecom was down 3.38 percent to 158,000 won. Giant steelmaker Posco also showed a steep fall, off 3.94 percent to 97,500 won. Big banks Kookmin and Shinhan ended down 4.5 percent and 5.7 percent respectively. In Taiwan, the Taiex was off 3.23 percent to 4233.54 as techs moved broadly lower. Chip foundry TSMC, the market's biggest stock, was down 3.81 percent to T$45.50 and rival UMC was off 3.4 percent to T$19.90. The two are expected to announce subdued earnings next week for the March quarter. Singapore's Straits Times index fell for it's third straight day, down 1.12 percent to 1229.14. Investors dumped banks amid worry of the economic impact of SARS. Big bank DBS Group closed 1.8 percent lower at S$8.30 -- a fresh four-year low. United Overseas Bank dipped 2.9 percent to S$10, OCBC fell 2.8 percent. In Hong Kong, where the SARS virus continues to exact a deadly toll, the Hang Seng index finished 0.39 percent lower at 8409.01. Blue chips traded in a narrow range, with big bank HSBC down 1.2 percent to HK$81.75 and China Mobile unchanged at HK$14.85. Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa also was unchanged at HK$41.70.
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