Tokyo leads Asia sharply lower

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks were sharply lower by midday Wednesday, with big banks and tech stocks leading the plunge.

That followed a retreat on Wall Street and a fifth straight monthly fall in U.S. consumer confidence.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average lost 169.19 points or 1.55 percent to 10,779.70 by midday, while the broader capital weighted TOPIX index was down 15.61 points or 1.45 percent at 1063.98.

Other Asian markets were mainly weaker, with Korea's Kospi down 2.5 percent to 653.51. Hong Kong's Hang Sang index was down about 85 points or 0.77 percent to 11,174 shortly before midday.

Australia was down 5 points to 3350, Taiwan was off 20 points to 4559 and Singapore was down 20.4 points or 1.34 percent to 1482 in late morning trade.

New Zealand was a rare gainer, adding 20.02 points or 1 percent to 2060.24.

Dow, Nasdaq both end down

In the U.S. on Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average had ended down 1.10 percent at 9,872.60, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 5.26 points or 0.27 percent lower at 1935.97.

Japanese tech leaders such as consumer electronics giant Sony, mobile phone heavweight NTT DoCoMo and chipmakers Toshiba and Fujitsu were all lower.

But big banks led the morning's falls, with Mizuho Holdings down more than 7.3 percent to 317,000 yen.

Rival UFJ was off 6.8 percent or 32,000 yen to 440,000 yen, while MTFG was down 4.2 percent to 855,000 yen and SMBG lost 4.1 percent to 698 yen.

Sony Corp lost 80 yen or 1.3 percent to 5930 yen, computer and chipmaker Toshiba dropped 18 yen or 3.2 percent to 533 yen, and Fujitsu was off 1.4 percent to 1045 yen.

DoCoMo eased 2.3 percent to 1.68 million yen, while second-ranked KDDI was down 1.2 percent to 332,000 yen.

No. 3 telco Japan Telecom was marginally lower, down 2000 yen to 417,000 yen after reports that Vodafone was appointing its own person as the company's chief executive.

Niigata Engineering collapses

Also hurting sentiment in Tokyo was the failure of Japanese heavy machinery maker Niigata Engineering Co Ltd, which said late on Tuesday it had filed for court protection from creditors with 227 billion yen ($1.83 billion) in liabilities.

The company's failure was a reminder of the precarious state of many Japanese firms, particularly in the construction sector.

Niigata Engineering is the twelfth publicly traded Japanese company to go under this year, following last Thursday's failure of non-life insurer Taisei Fire & Marine Insurance Co Ltd.

"Niigata Engineering's news was a surprise," Tokio Furuta, a general manager in equities trading at Tokai Tokyo Securities, told Reuters news agency.

"That should stop investors' return to low-priced issues from overheated high-techs --- the trend we saw yesterday," he said.

Real estate developer Sumitomo Realty & Development Co, which replaces Niigata Engineering in the Nikkei 225 average, was up almost 7 percent to 752 yen.

Reuters contributed to this report.