Asia ends lower on tech nerves
 |
Asian steelmakers closed mixed Friday after the U.S. dropped its controversial tariffs on steel imports.
Story Tools
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
(CNN) -- South Korea led Asian markets to a lower close Friday, with tech-related stocks down after U.S. chip giant Intel's latest forecast. Australia ended flat.
In Tokyo, the tech-sensitive Nikkei 225 average finished the day 0.54 percent lower to 10,373.46. Toshiba was down almost 3 percent.
The broader Topix index gave up early gains to be down 0.39 percent at 1019.42. Big banks were mainly lower
South Korea showed the heaviest falls, with the benchmark Kospi down 1.95 percent to 789.41 amid sharp declines for Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics.
In other markets, Taiwan slipped 0.34 percent and Hong Kong finished 0.23 percent in the red. Singapore rebounded late in the day to finished flat 0.06 percent at close.
Australia's S&P/ASX200 ended unchanged at 3229.8, while New Zealand's Top 50 lost 0.21 percent.
The moves in Asia followed 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 were 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 closed 1.47 percent higher at 138 yen, while Nippon Steel was down 0.46 percent and JFE Holdings finished unchanged at 2600 yen.
South Korea's Posco lost ground, down 3.3 percent at 144,500 won, and Taiwan's China Steel was steady at T$27.30.
Analysts said the move to lift tariffs had been widely expected and was already priced into the market.
Chip stocks in Tokyo were 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 ended 2.86 percent lower to 408 yen, Hitachi was down 0.29 percent to 677 yen and NEC was off 2.13 percent to 780 yen.
On the consumer electronics front, Sony slipped 0.54 percent to 3690 yen and Canon was down 2.3 percent to 5060 yen, giving back some of Thursday's gains.
Among automakers, there were falls of 1.1 percent for Honda and 0.4 percent for Nissan. Toyota was steady at 3450 yen.
Big banks were also in the red, with declines of between 1 and 2 percent each for UFJ, MTFG and SMFG. Mizuho was down 0.35 percent to 288,000 yen.
In Seoul, big exporter Hyundai Motor closed down 1.9 percent to 45,900 won and Samsung Electronics was 2 percent lower to 451,500 won.
Hynix Semiconductor dropped 3.1 percent and leading banks Shinhan and Kookmin were down about 2 percent each.
In Australia, there were slight gains for Telstra and airline Qantas. But media group News Corp. and resources giant BHP Billiton finished in the red, as did leading bank NAB.
Discount airline Virgin Blue, which lists on the ASX Monday, priced its initial share offer at the top of the range, A$2.25, giving it a market value of A$2.3 billion ($1.68 billion)
In Taiwan, the Taiex was down 0.34 percent to 5900.05. Market heavyweight TSMC was off 3 percent to T$65.00 and its smaller rival UMC ended 1.3 percent lower.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index closed 0.06 percent at 1,733.00.
F
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ended down 0.23 percent to 12,314.73. Earlier this week the market hit a 28-month high. Leading bank HSBC was down 0.4 percent to HK$118.00 and Hutchison Whampoa was unchanged at HK$55.75.
