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Japan leads Asia to lower close
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian stocks ended lower Tuesday, drifting down in the absence of any direction from U.S. markets. Some investors sold off to lock in profits, with Japan falling 1.3 percent. The U.S. dollar continued to soften in Asian trade, sinking to a record low of $1.1895 to the euro before recovering slightly to $1.1857 later in the day . Against the yen, it was trading at 116.92 yen Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average finished down 1.3 percent to 8120.24, after putting on half a percent on Monday. The broader Topix index dipped further, losing 1.46 percent to 814.86, with big banks mixed after they reported massive losses late on Monday. Japan's four largest banks are predicting a return to the black this year, saying they will make $6 billion in combined net profit. (Full story) Mizuho Financial Group, which posted Japan's biggest corporate loss of $20 billion for the year that ended in March, finished 5.2 percent lower at 72,800 yen. UFJ Holdings, which said it plans to pay a dividend in 2003 for the first time in three years, eked out a gain of 0.9 percent to 111,000 yen. SMFG and MTFG both fell about 2.5 percent. Elsewhere in the region, South Korea's Kospi was down 0.54 percent, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was off 0.49 percent and Taiwan showed a similar dip. Hong Kong lost 0.76 percent. Singapore closed down 0.75 percent, snapping a three-day winning run. New Zealand moved against the trend, with its Top 50 index up half a percent. Markets on Wall Street were closed Monday for a public holiday. London was also closed. Europe ended mainly lower. (Full story) Traders said trading in Tokyo was not affected by the earthquake that shook northeastern Japan on Monday. There were no fatalities, but about 100 people were injured. (Full story) Outside the banking sector, most Japanese blue chips closed in the red. Consumer electronics leader Sony was down 2 percent to 3000 yen, Honda Motor was off 1 percent to 4010 yen and Hitachi finished 4.2 percent lower at 455 yen. Mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, ended down 2.7 percent to 249,000 yen. Parent NTT was 1.85 percent lower at 426,000 yen and rival Japan Telecom lost 2.4 percent to 367,000 yen ahead of Vodafone's results. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 closed 0.49 percent weaker at 2982.9, with market heavyweight News Corp off 1 percent to A$11.34 and resources leader BHP Billiton down 1.2 percent to A$8.40. Qantas Airways was unchanged at A$3.28 and telco Telstra was also steady at A$4.42. Big bank NAB rose slightly. Retailer Coles Myer finished 2.28 percent higher at A$6.73 after unveiling a discount fuel alliance with Shell. (Full story) In South Korea, the Kospi ended 0.54 percent lower to 614.30. Blue chips were broadly lower, with a fall of 1 percent for Samsung Electronics to 314,000 won. SK Telecom lost almost 2 percent to 176,500 won. Leading exporter Hyundai Motor recovered to finish 0.35 percent higher. Taiwan's Taiex was down 0.32 percent at 4451.11, with the market's biggest stock, TSMC, losing 1 percent at T$49.30. In Singapore, the Straits Times index gave up early gains to be down 0.6 percent to 1327.33 near the close. There are falls of about a percent each for SingTel, DBS and Singapore Airlines. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.76 percent to 9420.81. Blue chips were all lower after Monday's gains, with China Mobile, PCCW, HSBC and Hutchison Whampoa in the red. In New Zealand, gains for Telecom, Carter Holt Harvey and Air New Zealand pushed the Top 50 index 0.52 percent higher to 2058.66.
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