Japan slumps; other Asian stocks rise

Tech flagcarrier Sony lost 11.5 percent on the first day of trading after its 90 percent earnings dip

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Bar Japan, Asian markets ended the week on an ebullient note.

Australia closed with gains Friday and markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea also rose.

But Japan, Asia's largest market, lost ground. More bad news on earnings from Fujitsu amplified the shock of Sony's 90 percent earnings drop.

Sony down 11.5 percent

Sony was battered, dropping 11.5 percent after hitting a two-year low, to close at 6,260 yen. Friday was the first day for Japanese investors to respond to the electronics maker's announcement, made after the bell on Thursday.

The benchmark tech-sensitive Nikkei average lost 0.5 percent to 11,798.08. That's approaching its 16-year intraday low, 11,433.88, set in March.

With elections this weekend in Japan, the stock slump is not helping Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling coalition. His record popularity has started to slump, and the boost stocks got after his April election has long worn off.

PC and chipmaker Fujitsu Ltd. ended down 3.6 percent at 1,104 yen. It posted a 42.3 billion yen loss for the June quarter and cut its profit forecast for the business year.

Industry rival NEC Corp. lost 4.8 percent to 1,529 yen ahead of its first quarter results after the close.

The chip and computer maker said net profit slid to 834 million yen compared with 3.02 billion yen a year earlier. But the result was better than some analysts expected.

Topix loses too, Sydney up

All weighed on the Nikkei. The capital-weighted Topix index also slipped, falling 0.67 percent to 1,184.23. It was hurt by a fall in NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest stock.

DoCoMo, Japan's dominant mobile phone carrier, fell 4.5 percent to 1.71 million yen. There are new concerns the telecom slump may force it to mark down its investments in overseas carriers such as AT&T Wireless Group.

Australian shares managed to clinch a higher close. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index finished up 0.3 percent at 3,292.0.

But Sydney was 2.6 percent lower for the week. Investors have gotten increasingly cautious about the global economy and how it might hurt exports.

A cloud still hangs over Australia's second-biggest stock, Telstra. The country's biggest telecom touched a fresh 3-year low during the day.

It ended down five cents at A$4.85. Investors are worried about Telstra's Asian joint ventures with the embattled Hong Kong company Pacific Century CyberWorks.

Australia's biggest stock, News Corp., rose 2 percent to A$17.45 after getting approval to take over U.S. broadcaster Chris-Craft Industries. It's still in talks over DirecTV.

The world's biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, rallied 12 cents to A$9.49. Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto shot up 3.5 percent higher to A$32.68.

Mining stocks are normally a safe haven in a downturn but have lost ground with concern about exports to Japan.

In New Zealand, the benchmark NZSE-40 capital index lost 0.4 percent to 2,067.23.

Hong Kong moves off 12,000

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index rose 1.2 percent to 12,182.17 after big losses on Thursday.

It benefited from a technical rebound after it hit its lowest close in two years on Thursday. It has pushed 12,000 four times in the last two years, always rebounding sharply.

Banking giant HSBC Holdings, Hong Kong's biggest stock, ended up 1.5 percent at HK$87.75. Fears about its exposure to Argentina are easing.

Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa rose 1.0 percent from a 52-week low close on Thursday to end at HK$73.50.

In Seoul, shares breezed by dismal economic news, with investors chasing technology shares.

June industrial output fell by 1.9 percent from the previous month against a forecast of a 0.4 percent fall. The government pinned the bad numbers on slipping exports.

But the benchmark Kospi rose 2.3 percent to 541.13.

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest memory-chip maker and Korea's biggest stock, rose 2.2 percent to 185,500 won.

Embattled rival Hynix Semiconductor, the world memory-chip No. 3, rose 12.8 percent to 1,365 won. It has rallied off its record low this week.

Stocks in Taipei closed higher, with heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. leading the pack.

The world's biggest microchip contractor announced a slim quarterly profit on Thursday. Its stock rose 5.0 percent Friday to T$63.50.

Taipei's benchmark Taiex rose 0.5 percent to 4,320.59.

Stocks in Singapore were exactly flat Friday afternoon, with the Straits Times index at 1,639.34.

Reuters contributed to this report.