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Tokyo stocks hit 20-year low
By Alex Frew McMillan
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Japanese stocks are on track to close at a 20-year low on Friday. The Nikkei average ended the morning down 0.66 percent at 8,262.26, below the two-decade low close of 8,303 set in November. If the losses hold, they would see the Nikkei end at its most depressed level since March 1983. Japanese stocks were rocked Friday by the country's jobless rate returning to a record high. (Full story) The broader Topix is down 0.91 percent at 817.68 at midday, with many big caps showing losses of more than 2 percent. There are also declines in Australia and New Zealand, both off just over half a percent. Singapore stocks are down 1 percent. Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea are all closed Friday as Asia prepares to usher in the Year of the Goat. The Lunar New Year starts on Saturday. Korean trade will resume on Monday, with Hong Kong back in action on Tuesday. Taiwan is closed for a week. Wall Street tumbled on Thursday as new figures showed the U.S. economy slowed to a crawl for the fourth quarter, with the weakest growth since the recession of 2001. (Full story) The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.04 percent to 7,945.13, while Nasdaq dropped 2.63 percent to 1,322.35. (U.S. roundup) Broad slide in TokyoIn Tokyo on Friday, the market is being battered by selling in most of its big names. The largest listing, cell-phone service NTT DoCoMo, is down 2.52 percent to 232,000 yen, with parent NTT off 2.88 percent to 404,000 yen.
Rival cell-phone provider KDDI is topping the big-name declines, off 4.85 percent to 353,000 yen. Even encouraging earnings have done little to stem the stock slide, with Sony Corp. down 2.52 percent to 4,650 yen despite posting record earnings for its third quarter. (Full story) NEC Corp. is down 3.41 percent to 425 yen one day after posting a net loss of 4.56 billion yen ($38.3 million) for the December quarter, much improved over its large loss the same time the year before. The poor jobless figures are knocking bank stocks, with the sluggish economy likely to put more pressure on their already troubled borrowers. Mizuho Holdings, the biggest bank in the world by assets, is down 4.27 percent to 112,000 yen and UFJ Holdings is down 2.94 percent to 132,000 yen. The yen is slightly weaker at 118.88 to the U.S. dollar. Sydney stocks at three month lowIn Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index is down 0.66 percent to 2,944.5 in early afternoon trade. That brings Sydney to its lowest level in more than three months.
Media group News Corp. is down 2.96 percent to A$11.15 after rival AOL Time Warner posted the largest annual loss in U.S. corporate history. National Australia Bank is down 1.04 percent to A$31.45 on gloomy economic prospects. The NAB said this week that Australian growth would be held back by about a percentage point as the country feels the effects of a severe drought. (Full story) Commonwealth Bank is down 0.73 percent to A$25.83 ahead of its half-year earnings in February. Gold stocks are higher as investors move to safe havens, with Lihir Gold up 2.04 percent to A$1.50 and Placer Dome ahead 3.40 percent to A$19.15. New Zealand's Top 40 closed down 0.47 percent to 1,966.61, with Telecom New Zealand down 1.34 percent to NZ$4.41 ahead of its earnings on Tuesday. Coffeemix leaps in SingaporeSingapore's Straits Times index is down 0.76 percent to 1,286.04 in late morning trade. Bank stock DBS Group is leading the big-cap losses, down 3.81 percent to S$10.10. Singapore Airlines is off 2.54 percent to S$9.60. There are outsize gains for Super Coffeemix, up 16.98 percent to S$0.31, after tycoon Oei Hong Leong bought a 10 percent stake in the company. (Full story) Chartered Semiconductor is down 2.82 percent to S$0.69 after Nasdaq's fall.
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