Nikkei, other markets, stay soft on U.S. falls


Stocks in Japanese carmakers like Honda fell Thursday on export fears

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks stayed soft by midday Thursday after U.S. stocks extended their declines for a third day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 179.42 points or 1.81 percent at 9,760.18 by midday, while the broader capital-weighted TOPIX index fell 18.96 points or 1.83 percent to 1,019.10.

The 47 percent fall in Japan's customs-cleared trade surplus for August from a year earlier also dampened investor sentiment in Tokyo.

In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed 144 points or 1.6 percent lower at 8759.13.

It has lost almost 9 percent since markets reopened on Monday, four trading days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade center last Tuesday.

Australia, NZ, Korea also weaker

Other markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also weaker Thursday.

Australia was down just over 1.5 percent at 2990.0 for the S&P/ASX200, with Telstra one of the few to continue to make gains.


The Nikkei was down about 1.8 percent by midday Thursday

In New Zealand the NZSE Top 40 lost about 0.9 percent to 1812.64, while in Seoul, the Kospi was down 1.75 percent to 478.22.

Taiwan and Hong Kong markets opened weaker as well.

In Japan, tech and telecom issues, which had rebounded sharply on Wednesday, lost ground in Thursday trade.

Leading mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc fell 2.6 percent to 1.51 million yen, while DoCoMo's parent NTT lost 0.6 percent to 537,000 yen.

Consumer electronics leader Sony lost 70 yen or 1.5 percent to 4410 yen. Top chipmaker Toshiba Corp fell 5.9 percent to 510 yen and Fujitsu lost 4.9 percent to 1100 yen.

Carmakers fall on export fears

Carmakers fell on fears that U.S. demand would slump in the weeks ahead. Toyota, Japan's top automaker, fell 5.1 percent to 2,980 yen, while Honda Motor Co Ltd lost 6.1 percent to 3,540 yen.

"Given the developments in the U.S. over the past couple of weeks, and given that we are likely to see more fallout from it on Asian economies, exports will probably continue to drop in the coming months," Yasuaki Kudamatsu, a senior economist at Tsubasa Research Institute, told Reuters.

Reuters contributed to this report.