Tokyo techs lead Asian slump
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Nissan and other carmakers are lower in Monday trade.
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(CNN) -- Japanese stocks are sharply lower at midday trade Monday, led by falls in techs and big exporters after the dollar hit a three-year low against the yen.
Tokyo's market is about 2 percent lower, leading a general slump across Asia. Hong Kong is down about 1.3 percent, while Singapore and Taiwan are both off about 0.7 percent.
Australia and New Zealand are slightly higher, with gains of around 0.2 percent.
Japan's two big exporters of consumer electronics, Sony and Canon, are sliding on the dollar's weakness and Wall Street's downturn Friday after a report showing surprisingly soft U.S. jobs growth.
Tech-related stocks and auto makers are also well into the red after the dollar fell to a three-year low of 107.51 yen in Monday morning trade.
The Nikkei 225 average is down 2.25 percent to 10,140.18 at the end of the morning session, while the broader Topix index is 1.9 percent lower to 1000.03.
Canon is down 2.96 percent at 4910 yen and Sony is 2.17 percent lower to 3610 yen.
But there are even bigger falls among other tech-related stocks, with NEC off 6.28 percent to 731 yen and Hitachi 5.5 percent lower to 640 yen. Toshiba is down 3.9 percent to 392 yen. Fujitsu is 5.7 percent lower to 595 yen.
In the auto sector, Honda is 2 percent lower to 4410 yen and Nissan is off 2.9 percent to 1238 yen. Toyota is unchanged at 3450 yen.
Big banks are also sharply weaker, with a fall of 6.9 percent for UFJ Holdings and 5.8 percent for SMFG. Mizuho is down 4.5 percent to 275,000 yen and MTFG is 3.4 percent lower.
One of the rare gainers in Tokyo is telco giant NTT, which is up 1.5 percent to 539,000 yen. NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, is 0.8 percent lower to 241,000 yen.
Events this week include the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting on Tuesday and the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan business sentiment survey on Friday.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is 0.19 percent higher to 3235.9. There are gains for big exporter BHP Billiton, up 1 percent to A$11.62, and leading bank NAB. But media group News Corp. and telco Telstra are in the red.
Discount airline Virgin Blue is 7 percent higher to A$2.41 after making its stock market debut Monday. (Full story)
Bigger rival Qantas is 0.6 percent higher to A$3.47.
In Seoul, the Kospi is down 0.31 percent to 786.96. Big exporter Hyundai Motor has turned around from early losses to be 0.87 percent higher to 46,300 won.
But market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is just in the red at 451,000 won and SK Telecom is 0.26 percent lower to 192,000 won.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is 1.3 percent lower to 12,157.00. Leading bank HSBC is down 0.85 percent to HK$117.00. Hutchison Whampoa is more than 2 percent lower to HK$54.50.
Singapore's Straits Times index is 0.8 percent lower to 1719.38. SingTel is flat at S$1.80.
In Taiwan, the Taiex is down 0.76 percent to 5855.39. Chip foundry UMC is 2.3 percent lower to T$29.90. Formosa Plastic is about 1 percent in the red.
The moves in Asia follow falls in the United States on Friday. Wall Street closed lower, with a fall of about 1.5 percent for the Nasdaq and 0.7 percent for the Dow Jones industrial average. (Full story)
