Tokyo techs lead Asia's slump
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Tech-related stocks led the plunge in Tokyo's market Monday.
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(CNN) -- Japanese stocks closed sharply lower Monday, led by falls in techs, banks and big exporters after the dollar hit a three-year low against the yen.
Tokyo's market finished more than 3 percent lower, leading a general slump across Asia. Hong Kong was down about 1.1 percent, and Singapore was off almost one percent..
Taiwan lost 0.9 percent and Korea fell 0.58 percent. After early gains, Australia slipped into the red, losing 0.15 percent. New Zealand held against the trend, finishing with a gains of 0.2 percent.
Japan's two big exporters of consumer electronics, Sony and Canon, tumbled on the dollar's weakness and Wall Street's downturn Friday after a report showing surprisingly soft U.S. jobs growth. Fujitsu lost more than 7 percent.
Other tech-related stocks, big banks and auto makers were also well into the red after the dollar fell to a three-year low of 107.51 yen early Monday. Near the end of the day in Tokyo it was at 107.55 yen.
The Nikkei 225 average closed down 3.16 percent to 10,045.34, posting its heaviest points decline since November 17. The broader Topix index ended 2.37 percent lower to 995.28.
Canon was down 2.37 percent at 4940 yen and Sony fell 2.44 percent to 3600 yen.
But there were even bigger falls among other tech-related stocks, with NEC off 6.92 percent to 726 yen and Hitachi 6.2 percent lower to 635 yen. Toshiba was down 5.1 percent to 387 yen and Fujitsu tumbled 7.3 percent to 585 yen.
In the auto sector, Honda closed 1.3 percent lower to 4440 yen and Nissan was off 2.75 percent to 1240 yen. Toyota lost 1.1 percent to 3410 yen.
Big banks were also sharply weaker, with a fall of 4.4 percent for UFJ Holdings and 3.8 percent each for SMFG and MTFG. Mizuho eased 1.74 percent to 283,000 yen.
One of the rare gainers in Tokyo was telco giant NTT, which rose 0.19 percent to 532,000 yen. But NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, dropped 3.3 percent to 235,000 yen.
Along with the dollar, investors are watching 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 gave up early gains to close 0.15 percent in the red at 3225.1. There were gains for big exporter BHP Billiton, up 0.5 percent to A$11.56, but other blue-chips fell. Media group News Corp., leading bank NAB and telco Telstra alll finished in the red.
Discount airline Virgin Blue ended 8 percent higher to A$2.43 after making its stock market debut Monday. (Full story)
Bigger rival Qantas slipped 0.29 percent to A$3.44.
In Seoul, the Kospi was down 0.58 percent to 784.80. Big exporter Hyundai Motor turned around from early losses to be 0.87 percent higher to 46,300 won.
But market heavyweight Samsung Electronics ended just in the red at 450,000 won and SK Telecom was 0.52 percent lower to 191,500 won.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed 1.1 percent lower to 12,177.44. Leading bank HSBC was down 0.85 percent to HK$117.00. Hutchison Whampoa slumped more than 4 percent to HK$53.50.
Singapore's Straits Times index ended 0.79 percent lower to 1719.33. Microchip maker Chartered Semiconductor dropped 4.2 percent to S$1.58. Among blue chips, United Overseas Bank shed 1.5 percent to S$12.80 and Singapore Airlines fell 1.7 percent to S$11.90
In Taiwan, the Taiex lost 0.9 percent to 5847.15. Chip foundry UMC was 2.9 percent lower to T$29.70 and TSMC lost 2.3 percent. Formosa Plastic ended 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)
