Asia takes early tumble

Market leader NTT DoCoMo is down 2 percent in early trade Monday. Story Tools

TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese stocks have opened lower Monday, the last day of Japan's financial year, on continued uncertainty over the war in Iraq.

South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are also down in early trade, with Seoul's Kospi showing a fall of about 1.5 percent.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average is about 1 percent lower at 8193.95, while the broader Topix index is down about the same percentage at 809.51.

Also weighing on investors in Japan is weaker than expected industrial production figures for February.

Data released Monday shows Japan's industrial production fell 1.7 percent in February from a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis. That was below analysts' expectations of a fall of about 0.9 percent.

The declines in Japan are broad-based, with consumer electronics leader Sony down 2.5 percent to 4290 yen and big carmaker Toyota off almost 2 percent to 2750 yen.

The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, is 2.1 percent lower at 233,000 yen. Big banks are also softer, with SMFG down almost 4 percent, and MTFG and UFJ both more than 3 percent weaker.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is down about 0.4 percent to 2886.5. Movements are muted, however, with Telstra flat and big bank NAB down about 0.3 percent.

The market's biggest stock, media group News Corp., is down about 1 percent to A$10.92 after announcing a share investment agreement with Liberty Media last Friday. (Full story)

Among South Korean stocks, big chipmaker Samsung Electronics is 3.4 percent lower to 296,500 won and leading carmaker Hyundai Motor is down 2.33 percent to 25,100 won.

New Zealand's Top 50 is half a percent lower at 1909.55, with Telecom NZ down 1.12 percent to NZ$4.40.

The softer start for Asian markets on Monday follows declines in Europe and the U.S. last Friday, when the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.68 percent and the Nasdaq composite dropped more than 1 percent. (Full story)

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