Asia lower on tech nerves
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Asian steelmakers are mixed Friday after the U.S. dropped its controversial tariffs on steel imports.
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(CNN) -- Asian markets are mainly lower at midday Friday, with tech-related stocks down after U.S. chip giant Intel's latest forecast. Only Australia is trading in the black.
In Tokyo, the tech-sensitive Nikkei 225 average has finished the morning session 0.56 percent lower to 10,371.51. NEC is down 3 percent.
The broader Topix index has given up early gains to be down 0.35 percent at 1019.87. Big banks are mainly lower
South Korea is showing the heaviest falls, with the benchmark Kospi down 1.4 percent to 793.90 amid sharp declines for Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics.
In other markets, Singapore is down about 0.6 percent, Taiwan is off 0.2 percent and Hong Kong is almost flat, just in the red.
Australia's S&P/ASX200 is 0.05 percent ahead to 3231.3, while New Zealand's Top 50 is down 0.36 percent.
The moves in Asia follow a rally on Wall Street Thursday that saw the Dow close at its highest level since May last year at 9930.82, up 0.58 percent. The Nasdaq rose 0.44 percent to 1968.80. (Full story)
Asian steel makers are mixed after the Bush administration's decision to drop duties on imported steel, a move that averted a trade war with Europe and Asia. (Full story)
In Japan, Kobe Steel is trading 0.74 percent higher at 137 yen, while Nippon Steel is down 0.9 percent and JFE Holdings is 1.15 percent lower to 2570 yen. South Korea's Posco is losing ground, down 0.67 percent at 148,500 won.
Analysts say the move to lift tariffs had been widely expected and was already priced into the market.
Chip stocks in Tokyo are among the losers after Intel's forecast. After the U.S. market closed, Intel said it kept the top end of its revenue forecast unchanged. (Full story)
Toshiba is 1.67 percent lower to 413 yen, Fujitsu is down half a percent to 627 yen and NEC is off 3 percent to 773 yen. Hitachi is unchanged at 679 yen.
On the consumer electronics front, Sony is steady at 3710 yen and Canon is down 1.7 percent to 5090 yen, giving back some of Thursday's gains.
Among automakers, there are falls of 1.1 percent for Honda and 0.7 percent for Nissan. Toyota is down 0.3 percent to 3440 yen.
Big banks are also in the red, with declines of about 1 percent each for UFJ, MTFG and SMFG. Mizuho is down 0.35 percent to 288,000 yen.
In Seoul, big exporter Hyundai Motor is down 1.9 percent to 45,900 won and Samsung Electronics is 1.6 percent lower to 453,500 won. Leading banks Shinhan and Kookmin are down about 1 percent each.
In Australia, there are slight gains for Telstra and airline Qantas. But media group News Corp. and resources giant BHP Billiton are in the red, as is leading bank NAB.
In Taiwan, the Taiex is down 0.17 percent to 5910.35. Market heavyweight TSMC is off 1.5 percent to T$66.00 and its smaller rival UMC is 1 percent lower.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index is 0.57 percent lower to 1722.08. There are slight declines for DBS, SingTel and Singapore Airlines.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is just in the red, down 0.05 percent to 12,335.06. Earlier this week the market hit a 28-month high. Leading bank HSBC is unchanged at HK$118.50.
