Asian stocks continue to fall


Samsung Electronics turned in a June quarter profit of $1.6 billion, but its stock fell in Friday trade.

TOKYO, Japan -- Asian stock markets are continuing to falter in early afternoon trade Friday, reversing the strong gains they made in the previous day's session.

Two of Asia's biggest brand names, Sony and Samsung, are down sharply, with both of them off more than 4 percent.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average is down 2.36 percent and the Topix is off 1.67 percent at the midday break.

The markets in Taiwan and Australia are down 1.7 percent and 1.2 percent respectively.

The biggest fall is in South Korea, where the Kospi is down more than 3 percent, with technology stocks taking a beating. Along with Samsung's fall, SK Telecom is down 3.6 percent.

Hong Kong and Singapore are both down between 1.1 and 1.3 percent.

The falls in Asia come after another down day on Wall Street, which was unable to sustain Wednesday's brief rally.

The Dow was off 1.56 percent and Nasdaq lost almost 2.9 percent as U.S. markets tumbled Thursday.

The S&P500 hit a five-year low on dismal earnings and more accounting worries. Microsoft provided some lift with a fourth-quarter profit result that just beat expectations.

Nikkei, Topix down

In Japan, the Nikkei is off 2.36 percent or 248.10 points at 10,250.16, after Thursday's two percent climb.

The broader capital-weighted Topix index is down 16.82 points or 1.67 percent to 993.30.

Sony has continued its volatile performance this week, with the consumer electronics giant off more than 4.3 percent to 5550 yen by early Friday afternoon.

The yen is firmer against the U.S. dollar, trading at 115.97 in Asian trade near midday Friday.

Other technology stocks such as Canon, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba are weaker, along with mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo and its parent NTT.

But the big banks such as Mizuho, UFJ and MTFG are showing some strength, as is automaker Honda.

Nissan is off 2.4 percent to 815 yen, while Toyota is half a percent down at 2965 yen.

In Seoul, the Kospi is making heavy weather, down 3.126 percent to 748.65.

Samsung drags Kospi down

It is being dragged down by market heavyweight Samsung Electronics, which tumbled a hefty 4 percent to 342,500 won. That was despite revealing that its profits in the June quarter double to $1.6 billion.

SK Telecom is down 10,000 won or 3.77 percent to 255,000 won.

Hyundai Motor is up 0.3 percent to 31,850 won, whle Hynix Semiconductor continues its climb off the floor, up another 5.6 percent to 745 won.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is down 39.8 points or 1.26 percent to 3112.5 in early afternoon trade.

Blue chips are broadly lower, led down by News Corp, the big banks and Telstra. Insurer and funds management giant AMP is down 2.75 percent to A$15.22.

But the resources leaders BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are moving against the trend, with Rio doing best, up 0.1.15 percent.

Taiwan's Taiex is down 1.7 percent to 5153.19, with technology issues such as chip foundries TSMC and UMC sharply lower. Some industrials are also lower, with Formosa Plastic off almost 4 percent to T$43.80.

Singapore, H.K. lower

Singapore is off about 1.2 percent heading towards midday. SingTel and big banks such as OCBC and DBS are slightly lower.

Singapore Airlines is up 0.77 percent to S$13.10.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is off 1.15 percent to 10,329.77 near midday. Blue chips are broadly lower, with Hutchison Whampoa down about 1.7 percent to HK$58.00.

Banking heavyweight HSBC and China phone twins China Mobile and China Unicom are all easier.

Utility CLP Holdings is a rare gainer, up about a third of a percent to HK$30.50.