Japan, HK lead Asian falls
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Toyota was the only Japanese carmaker to finish in the black Thursday.
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(CNN) -- Asian markets closed in the red Thursday, with Japanese banks and tech stocks diving after big gains earlier in the week. The Nikkei sank more than 2.6 percent.
Leading automaker Toyota was the only Japanese blue-chip to finish in the black, after posting robust half-year earnings on Wednesday.
The Nikkei 225 average ended down 2.63 percent to 10,552.30. On Wednesday, it eased 0.1 percent a day after it rallied 2.73 percent, its biggest one-day percentage gain in two months.
The broader Topix index was down 2.61 percent at 1035.57 as investors sold heavily.
Hong Kong posted a loss of about 2.3 percent. Taiwan and South Korea had the biggest falls behind Japan and Hong Kong, both losing about 2 percent after touching year-plus highs earlier in the week.
Singapore is down for a second straight day, dipping 0.79 percent.
Australia was the only market to finish in the black, up a miniscule 0.01 percent to 3241.1. New Zealand lost half a percent.
On the currency front, the dollar was relatively steady at 109.85 yen late in the Asian day. Japanese exporters had been concerned at the dollar's recent weakness that saw it fall below 108 yen last week.
In Tokyo, Toyota finished 1.5 percent higher to 3400 yen. Nissan fell 2.5 percent and Honda lost 1.8 percent, both giving up early gains as a broad selling wave hit the market.
Mazda Motor slipped 3 percent to 286 yen after lifting its European sales forecast. (Full story)
Among tech-related stocks, consumer electronics leader Sony was down 2.5 percent to 3930 yen and Canon fell 4.35 percent to 5060 yen. There were sharp falls too for Fujitsu, Toshiba, Hitachi and NEC.
The market's biggest stock, NTT DoCoMo, dropped 4.2 percent to 226,000 yen and parent NTT lost 5.1 percent to 446,000 yen.
Big banks posted some of the heaviest falls, with Mizuho down 6.8 percent and UFJ off 6.4 percent. SMFG slipped 6 percent to 533,000 yen and MTFG was down 4.5 percent.
Nippon Steel fell 3.9 percent to 222 yen after posting a strong first-half result. (Full story)
In Seoul, the Kospi dropped 1.92 percent to 790.04 after closing at a 16-month high Wednesday.
Big exporter Hyundai Motor fell 4.3 percent and market heavyweight Samsung Electronics was off 3.1 percent to 465,000 after setting record highs a day earlier.
SK Telecom and Shinhan posted small losses.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 rose 0.01 percent to 3241.1. Media group News Corp., the market's biggest stock, was up 1.73 percent to A$12.97 after posting strong first-quarter earnings. (Full story)
Telstra and resources leader BHP Billiton also closed higher, but banks were down again as investors absorb Wednesday's surprise rate rise by the central bank.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 2.32 percent to 12,150.09. Leading bank HSBC was down 2.52 percent to HK$116.00. Blue-chip conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa ended 2.87 percent lower at HK$59.25.
Singapore's Straits Times index lost 0.79 percent to 1763.13. SingTel was down 0.6 percent to S$1.77 after unveiling first-half earnings. (Full story)
Among the blue chips, UOB lost 1.5 percent to S$13.40 but rival DBS Group put on 0.7 percent to S$15.20.
In Taiwan, the Taiex eased 2.1 percent to 6013.40 after hitting an 18-month high earlier in the week. TSMC lost 0.7 percent.
The moves in Asia followed a mixed performance Wednesday on Wall Street, where the tech-heavy Nasdaq put on 0.07 percent to 1959.37 and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.18 percent. (Full story)
