Asian stocks dip after Wall St eases


The Nikkei touched a 19-year low last week on nerves about the strength of the U.S. and Japanese economies

Staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian shares are slightly lower in thin trade heading into Thursday afternoon, following the small losses on Wall Street Wednesday as the world marks the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the U.S.

In Tokyo, the tech-sensitive Nikkei 225 average is down 64.51 points or 0.69 percent to 9335.57, ending a three-day rally.

Last week the Nikkei touched a 19-year low on nerves about the strength of the U.S. and Japanese economies, and concerns about a possible war on Iraq.

The broader capital-weighted Topix index is down 0.29 percent at 914.42.

Markets in Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore are all in the red, but the downturn is relatively modest.

The Straits Times is doing worst, off about 1 percent near midday.

South Korea, N.Z. up


Big exporters Sony, Canon and Toyota are higher Thursday, but Hitachi is down after cutting its outlook

In South Korea the Kospi is up about 1 percent to 731.45 and New Zealand's Top 40 is 0.25 percent higher.

Japanese electronics maker Hitachi is down 1.42 percent to 625 yen. It is weighing on the market after it said late on Wednesday that it had cut its half-year earnings forecast, due mainly to a stronger yen.

Computer and chipmaker Fujitsu is down more than 3.3 percent to 584 yen and Toshiba is down 1 percent to 401 yen.

But consumer electronics giant Sony is up 0.76 percent to 5280 yen and Canon is almost 2.5 percent higher to 4130 yen. Toyota Motor, Japan's biggest automaker, is up about a third of a percent to 3010 yen.

A strong yen reduces the value of overseas income at Japanese exporters, while making products less price-competitive overseas.

DoCoMo down

"Among exporters, products made by such firms as Sony and Toyota are very different from Hitachi's. So their shares are doing relatively well," Tsuyoshi Segawa, equity strategist at Shinko Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo is down about 2.5 percent to 227,000 yen.

Among the big banks, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui are unchanged, while UFJ and Mitsubishi Tokyo are slightly stronger.

One big loser is Internet investor Softbank, down 6.8 percent to 1028 yen after Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday it may downgrade the company's B1 senior unsecured long-term debt rating.

Moody's cited concern that Softbank's earnings will remain under pressure due to increasing competition for its ADSL-based fast Internet access service.

Asian markets will also be watching congressional testimony on the U.S. economy by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan later on Thursday.

In Seoul, the market's biggest stock Samsung Electronics is about 1 percent higher at 339,500 won. Rival Hynix Semiconductor is another gainer, jumping by the daily limit to 520 won.

Hyundai Motor is up 2.77 percent to 33,400 won.

Australia flat

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 is virtually flat, down less than 1 point or 0.03 percent to 3147.1.

News Corp is up slightly to A$9.89, but most other bluechips are flat or dipping into the red.

Leading banks NAB and Westpac are unchanged, CBA is down 0.06 percent and Westpac is up 0.39 percent. Insurer and funds manager AMP continues to decline, losing 1.18 percent to A$13.38.

In Taiwan, the Taiex is down about 0.1 percent to 4655.

Its tech sector, which often takes a lead from Wall Street, is weaker, with market heavyweights TSMC and UMC both in the red. Quanta Computer and Via Technologies are also down.

After a shortened session to mark September 11, Wall Street closed Wednesday down a little, with the Dow Jones industrial average off 0.25 percent and the Nasdaq composite 0.35 percent weaker.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index is down about 1 percent to 1434. Big banks DBS, OCBC and UOB are all weaker, with OCBC off almost 2.9 percent to S$10.10.

Hong Kong's bluechips are easier, but again falls are modest and trading is thin after the previous day's session was shortened by an approaching typhoon.

Big bank HSBC is down 0.3 percent to HK$87.00. China Mobile is off 0.7 percent to HK$20.45.

Reuters contributed to this report.