Hong Kong leads Asian stocks south

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Asian markets started the week with a slump on Monday. All the region's major indexes were down by midday, with Hong Kong leading the losses.

Taiwan was also down sharply after Friday's poor growth stats. Australia was also down.

Japan was following close behind, with the benchmark Nikkei index near 17-year lows. It closed at a fresh 16-year low on Friday, at 11,445.54.

The index was on track for its fourth trading day of declines on Monday, ending the morning session down 0.9 percent at 11,343.95.

As afternoon trading started, those losses were widening.

Fujitsu stock rises as job cuts swirl

Toshiba, Japan's largest chip maker, was down 4.4 percent at 559 yen, on speculation it would trim earnings forecasts.

The broader Topix index was down 0.7 percent at 1,161.30. It doesn't have as strong a technology component as the Nikkei.

Chip and computer maker Fujitsu Ltd. announced it was cutting around 10 percent of its work force.

The company said Monday that it will trim 16,400 workers at plants in the United States and Asia.

Fujitsu's stock soared 4.0 percent to 1,259 yen on the news. The market has reacted warmly to efforts by all of Japan's big chip makers to slash production and streamline their work force.

But techs were getting little joy on Monday morning. Chip maker NEC was down 0.8 percent at 1,627 yen.

Advantest Corp., which makes chip-testing devices, was down 4.6 percent at 7,330 yen.

Honda Motor Co. was off 2.9 percent at 4,720. The relative strength of the yen recently has hurt stocks of big exporters.

Blue chips down in South Korea

In Seoul, the benchmark Kospi index was down 1.6 percent at 571.80 at midday.

The market's largest stock, Samsung Electronics, was down 2.8 percent at 190,500 won.

Blue chips in general were having a bad day, with Korea's biggest cell-phone company, SK Telecom, was down 2.5 percent at 219,000 won.

Hynix Semiconductor was the most active stock, down 3 percent at 1,565 won.

In Taiwan, the benchmark Taiex headed south after Friday's news that the economy there shrank 2.35 percent for the second quarter.

That was the worst drop in 26 years.

On Monday, the market was weakening in lockstep with the currency. The largest stock, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., fell 3.7 percent to T$65.00.

Rival United Microelectronics was off 1.5 percent at T$38.30.

Hong Kong leading losses

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 2.8 percent at 11,420.55.

Its midday close saw it posting the worst losses in the region.

China Mobile was the most-active stock. China's largest cell-phone provider and the second-biggest stock in Hong Kong, fell 7.2 percent to HK$27.05.

It has lost more than 21 percent since Thursday, when it reported earning growth of 58 percent, still below expectations.

Rival China Unicom slumped 5.5 percent to HK$10.25, also extending a sharp drop.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slid 1 percent to 3,296.4 in afternoon trade. Wall Street's poor showing on Friday was the cause.

The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 1.5 percent and Nasdaq dropped 3.3 percent.

BHP Billiton, the largest mining stock trading in Sydney, came in with a near-flat net profit of $1.5 billion.

It was the company's first full-year earnings after Australia's BHP Ltd. merged with British-based Billiton PLC in June.

BHP Billiton's shares fell as much as 1.6 percent to A$9.09 in early trade, before rebounding to stand 0.3 percent lower at A$9.21 shortly before noon.

Sydney's biggest stock, News Corp., was down 2.9 percent at A$16.63 after reporting earnings a bit above expectations -- but still down year-over-year -- last week.

Reuters contributed to this report.