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Asian markets in the red
TOKYO, Japan -- Asian markets are mainly lower at midday Thursday, taking their lead from Wall Street's softer performance amid jitters over the war in Iraq. South Korea is showing the biggest decline, down about 1 percent. But most other moves are muted. In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 average is virtually flat at the midday break, down 0.06 percent to 8346.53, while the broader Topix index is 0.2 percent higher at 823.05. Markets in Australia, Taiwan and Singapore are slightly in the red, but New Zealand's Top 50 index is up 0.15 percent in afternoon trade. Along with falls on Wall Street and edginess in European markets, investors in Asia are staying on the sidelines as the end of the Japanese financial year on March 31 approaches. Japan's big banks, including UFJ, SMFG and Mizuho are higher in early trade. Mizuho, the world's biggest bank by assets, is leading the gains, up 3.64 percent to 99,600 yen. But big auto exporters such as Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor are down. Tech-related stocks such as Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba are also weaker. Consumer electronics leader Sony is slightly higher, as is Matsushita Electric Industrial. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, is up 3.46 percent at 239,000 yen after it said on Wednesday it would launch the world's first wristwatch-style mobile phones operating on personal handyphone system (PHS) networks. Some other blue chips are under pressure after a fall of 0.61 percent for the U.S. Dow Jones industrial average and a decline of 0.26 percent for the Nasdaq composite index. (Full story) "I expect a dull market here, especially given uncertainty in the Iraq war," Hiroichi Nishi of Nikko Cordial Securities told Reuters news agency. Australia lowerIn Australia, the SP/ASX200 is 0.28 percent lower at 2884.0 in early afternoon trade, with modest falls for resources leader BHP Billiton after it said Wednesday it was selling its stake in an Argentinian copper-gold mine. (Full story) Market heavyweight News Corp., which is sensitive to U.S. market moves, is down 2.86 percent to A$10.86. Another stock to fall sharply is Qantas, down 4 percent to A$3.33 as international airlines generally move lower. Banking leader NAB is down about 0.3 percent to A$31.97, while the country's biggest telephone company, Telstra is a quarter of a percent higher. In Seoul, the Kospi index is 1.05 percent lower at 548.99. Big chipmaker and consumer electronics exporter Samsung Electronics is down 1.64 percent at 299,000 won. South Korea's biggest carmaker, Hyundai Motor, is up strongly, putting on 2.6 percent to 25,750 won. After early gains, mobile phone leader SK Telecom is unchanged at 154,500 won. In Taiwan, the Taiex is 0.4 percent lower at 4477.81, with a heavy fall for the market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC. It is down 3.83 percent to T$45.20, while smaller rival UMC is off 1.44 percent to T$20.60. But while techs are lower, industrial stock Formosa Plastic is 0.88 percent higher at T$45.80. Singapore's Straits Times index is virtually flat, down 0.06 percent to 1324.19. SingTel is up about three quarters of a percent, while Singapore Airlines and banking leader DBS are lower. In New Zealand, the biggest gainer is Air New Zealand, up 4 percent to NZ$0.52. Reuters contributed to this report.
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