Tokyo, other Asian markets decline


Hitachi and other technology stocks all lost ground in Tokyo Tuesday

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks led Asian markets lower by midday Tuesday, with the declines on Wall Street, a record jobless rate of 5.3 percent and expectations of further loss warnings this week all weighing on the Japanese market.

Computer, chip and consumer electronic stocks such as Canon, Fujitsu, Matsushita, Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony were all weaker. Canon had the biggest fall, down almost 8 percent.

Banks and automakers were also part of the wider downturn.

By midday the benchmark Nikkei 225 average was down 180.91 points or 1.7 percent at 10,431.30.

The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index fell 19.8 points or 1.83 percent to 1,062.85.

Other Asia-Pacific markets were also weaker, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index continuing its fall. It slipped below the 10,000 level to be down 198 points or 1.9 percent at 9979 in late morning trade.

Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore were all softer.

Disappointment on Wall Street

Asia's declines followed Wall Street's disappointing performance Monday, when the Dow Jones industrial average closed almost 2.9 percent lower at 9269.50, for a loss of 275.67 points.

The Nasdaq composite index also tumbled, losing 69.44 points or 3.9 percent to 169.52.

Concern that the war in Afghanistan may drag on made U.S. investors nervous. After the market closed, U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft said there could be a new terrorist attack over the next week.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 was off 15.5 points or just under half a percent to 3240.7, while in New Zealand the Top 40 was down 0.9 percent or 17.55 points to 1941.62.

In Sydney, market heavyweight News Corp continued to fall as investors digested the impact of its loss to rival EchoStar in the bidding for U.S. satellite broadcaster DirecTV, owned by GM's Hughes Electronics.

News Corp gave up 1.7 percent or 23 cents to A$13.44.

In Seoul the Kospi was down 2.3 percent, losing 12.69 points to 535.18. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics plunged more than 4.8 percent to 175,000 won, while leading telco SK Telecom gave up 3.8 percent to 238,000 won.

Hyundai Motor was a rare gainer, putting on 50 won or 0.25 percent to 20,350 won.

Taiwan's Taiex was down 3.3 percent or 137 points to 3928, and Singapore's Straits Times index was 2 percent lower at 1365 in late morning trade.

Canon leads Tokyo techs lower

In Tokyo, tech stocks were generally weaker by midday Tuesday.


Consumer electronics giant Sony lost 3.7 percent on the TSE by midday Tuesday

Canon, which slashed its profit outlook 14 percent after the market closed Monday, was down 7.9 percent or 300 yen to 3480 yen. Canon said its group net profit forecast for the year would be 161 billion yen ($1.32 billion).

Matsushita, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, lost 3.3 percent to 1455 yen. Sony, the other consumer electronics leader, was down about 3.7 percent or 180 yen to 4700 yen. Mitsubishi Electric was down 3.8 percent to 428 yen

Big banks weakened, with Mizuho Holdings down 3.2 percent to 358,000 yen, UFJ down 3 percent to 534,000 yen and MTFG off 3.2 percent to 921,000 yen.

Carmakers eased after several days of gains last week. No. 2 automaker Nissan was down 4.8 percent to 552 yen, third-ranked Honda gave up 1.5 percent to 4460 yen, while market leader Toyota was down about 1.3 percent or 40 yen to 2970 yen.

Major securities houses also were sharply lower. Japan's second-largest brokerage Daiwa Securities Group Inc lost 5 percent to 828 yen. Industry leader Nomura Holdings was down 3.5 percent at 1,689 yen.

Daiwa late last week reported a group net loss of 132 billion yen for the six-month period to September.

Reuters contributed to this report.