U.S. gloom drives Tokyo to fresh 19-year low


Japanese tech exporters such as Sony are lower in Friday trade

Staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Tokyo's Nikkei stock average is down to a fresh 19-year low heading into Friday afternoon, reversing the gains it made on Thursday.

Gloomy news out of the United States is weighing heavily on equities in the world's No. 2 economy, heightening fears that Japan's export-led recovery might be snuffed out.

The Nikkei ended the morning off 2.22 percent to 9,017.29, while the broader capital-weighted Topix was 2.09 percent down at 885.20. Both have recovered below 2 percent losses as the afternoon sets off.

At one point in the morning, the Nikkei dipped to 8,969.26, its lowest reading since July 1983. The Topix is back to December 1984 levels.

Japan's big banks are again taking a drubbing, with UFJ Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. both off more than 5 percent.

South Korea, Australia lower


Asian markets are broadly lower, driven down by nerves in the U.S. tech sector

Other Asian markets are also lower. South Korea is down more than 1 percent and Australia and New Zealand are both near that mark.

Hong Kong was also weaker for most of the morning, but has recovered to flat by noon. Singapore has bounced back from early losses and is trading solidly up.

Taiwan's market is closed Friday as the island battens down against an approaching typhoon.

In Japan, where the fragile economic recovery depends heavily on exports to the United States, poor data on U.S. retail sales has heightened fears that American consumers may rein in their spending.

"There's so much gloom out there it's hard to find any reason to buy right now," Hiroaki Kuramochi, head of equities at Credit Lyonnais in Tokyo, told Reuters news agency.

Tech exporters weaker


DaimlerChrysler reportedly will take a stake in a Mitsubishi Motors truck and bus joint venture

Tech exporters are weak, with chip giant Toshiba Corp down 3.28 percent to 383 yen and Sony Corp, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, off 2.23 percent at 4,830 yen.

Fujitsu is off more than 3 percent to 596 yen. Mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo is 3.73 percent lower to 232,000 yen, while parent NTT and rivals KDDI and Japan Telecom are also sharply weaker.

Investors concerned about the negative effect of falling share prices on banks' massive stock portfolios have sold down the sector.

Along with UFJ and SMBC, Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, is off 4.85 percent to 216,000 yen. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, usually seen as the most resilient of the big four, is down 3.26 percent to 741,000 yen.

Among automakers, Nissan is doing best, just into the black at 834 yen. But Honda and Toyota are lower, while Mitsubishi Motors is off 1.88 percent to 261 yen after a report that key shareholder DaimlerChrysler will take a 40 percent stake in a Mitsubishi truck and bus joint venture. (Full story)

Uncertainty on Wall Street

On Wall Street Thursday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 3.2 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average gave up 1.7 percent to 8,283.70 on uncertainty about a possible war with Iraq. (Full story)

After the close, the world's biggest chipmaker, Intel, narrowed its revenue forecast for the third quarter. (Full story)

In South Korea, the Kospi is off 1.89 percent to 707.35.

But market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is providing some relief, up 0.78 percent to 323,500 won.

Big steelmaker Posco is down 1.3 percent to 111,000 won and mobile phone leader SK Telecom, usually an investor favorite, is down by a similar margin to 226,000 won.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 is 0.97 percent lower to 3,083.2.

Media group News Corp., which gets most of its revenue in the United States, is down 2.1 percent to A$9.14. Miners Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and MIM are all lower.

But bank leader NAB is slightly higher, as is Westpac Bank.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is down 0.48 percent at 9,680.17.

Banking giant HSBC is 1.17 percent lower to HK$84.50. China Mobile is also down 1.23 percent.

PCCW is up 1.5 percent after touching a low of HK$1.30 yesterday before release of its results. The telecom posted a large loss but is trimming its huge debt load. (Full story)

Singapore's Straits Times turned around in late morning and is trading up 0.62 percent at 1,456.69 shortly before noon.

Reuters contributed to this report.