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Nikkei struggles back into black
TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's Nikkei average has recovered from an early fall Tuesday to be slightly higher at the midday break. But other Asian markets are lower, reflecting the decline in global equities over war fears. The Nikkei tumbled to a fresh 20-year low in the morning session, touching 7928 before climbing back to 8059.89, a gain of 0.22 percent on Monday's close. Monday's finish was the Nikkei's lowest since March 1983. The broader Topix index is up 0.2 percent to 786.06 by midday. It had closed Monday at its lowest level since August 1984. Elsewhere in the region, South Korea's Kospi is showing the heaviest fall, down about 1.4 percent. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 is continuing to decline, slipping 0.94 percent to 2715.6, its lowest since January 1999. Taiwan's Taiex is down 0.71 percent to 4289.26. Hong Kong is also lower, with the Hang Seng index off about half a percent. But Singapore's Straits Times index is trading just in the black after opening down at a four-year low. New Zealand, which has been virtually the only market to show any gains over the past week, has succumbed to the regional weakness and is down about a quarter of a percent. Wall Street dipped on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling more than 2.2 percent to a five-month low of 7568.18, and the Nasdaq composite off 2.06 percent to 1278.37. (Full story) In Tokyo, speculation that war in Iraq is imminent has again punished banks, insurers and prominent exporters such as Sony. Sony, the world's biggest consumer electronics maker, is down about 1 percent to 4160 yen after earlier dipping 2.5 percent to a 17-month low of 4,080 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is down more than 5 percent to 221,000 yen, a fresh record low. UFJ Holdings is 2.44 percent weaker at 120,000 yen. But Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group is up almost 2 percent to 461,000 yen. Another to show strength is NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, which is 1.44 percent higher at 211,000 yen. Among automakers, Nissan is down 2.9 percent to 805 yen and Toyota is off 0.36 percent to 2765 yen, but Honda is 2 percent higher at 4060 yen. Japan's Economics and Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka said Tuesday that the government is not taking measures to boost stock prices. (Full story) Takenaka said current stock falls are short term and reflect geopolitical risks around the world. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily reported earlier that the government and Bank of Japan were considering massive liquidity injections and yen-selling intervention to shore up the financial system. Security concerns
In South Korea, the Kospi is continuing to trade lower, off 1.4 percent to 536.61 amid ongoing security fears on the Korean peninsula. But the market's biggest stock, Samsung Electronics, is 0.35 percent higher at 287,5000 won, and big exporter Hyundai Motor is up almost 3.5 percent to 22,250 won. The big loser is SK Telecom, down 7.36 percent to 151,000 won as the SK Group deals with allegations of illegal stock trading by group executives. In Taiwan, chip foundry TSMC, the market's biggest stock, is 0.7 percent higher at T$42.90. In Hong Kong, banking group HSBC is down almost 1 percent to HK$82.25 as part of a broad market decline. Further south, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 started the day poorly, sinking as low as 2702. In early afternoon trading, it is down 1.12 percent at 2710.4. Big international players BHP Billiton and News Corporation are both suffering. News is down 2.82 percent to A$9.29 and BHP is 1.6 percent lower at $A8.61. Telstra is unchanged at A$4.07. AMP continues to stumble in line with the London FTSE index, losing almost 4 percent Tuesday morning to another record low of A$6.05. In New Zealand, the Top 50 index is down 0.25 percent to 1902.46 near the close, with Telecom NZ slightly higher. In Singapore the Straits Times index shed nearly half a percent at the opening before climbing into the black, up 0.13 percent to 1216.43. SingTel and OCBC are higher, but DBS Group is down about half a percent. Reuters contributed to this report.
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