Asian markets open week in red


South Korea's telco giant KT Corp is up sharply in early trade Monday.

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Asian markets have started the week in the red, with stocks in South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Taiwan falling in early trade Monday.

Japan's market is closed Monday and again on Friday for national holidays.

In Seoul, the benchmark Kospi was down more than 1.5 percent to 856.49, while Australia's S&P/ASX200 gave up about a third of a percent to 3369.7.

In Taipei, the Taiex was off 0.87 percent to 6252.26. Singapore's main index was also down about 0.9 percent.

Markets had closed mainly lower Friday after Japan's major electronics firms unveiled combined group net losses of about $15 billion for the 2001-02 year.

In Seoul the market opened broadly lower Monday, with mobile phone company SK Telecom off sharply, down 2.33 percent to 251,000 won.

KT Corp up

But fixed-line giant KT Corp, which reports its results Tuesday, was a rare gainer, up 3.8 percent to 57,300 won.

Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics was down 1.5 percent to 394,000 won.

In Australia, media giant News Corp dropped 2.13 percent to A$12.39 and telco leader Telstra slipped below the A$5.00 mark to A$4.96.

Resources stocks BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both weakened.

ANZ Bank, which soared to a record high of A$19.47 Friday after reporting a better than expected interim result, eased slightly to A$19.40.

But other bank majors were higher, as was retailer Woolworths.

Singapore was down sharply in early trade, with the Straits Times index off 15.35 points or 0.9 percent to 1712.97.