Asian stocks dip, Tokyo closed


Australia's market is trending higher Monday, led by News Corp

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Asian stock markets are mainly lower heading into Monday afternoon in a quiet's day trade. Tokyo is closed for a holiday.

The biggest movers are South Korea and Taiwan, where the markets are down about 1.7 percent and 1.9 percent respectively.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is down about half a percent and New Zealand is off 0.2 percent.

But Australia is trading just in the black, as is Singapore.

The Tokyo stock market will reopen Tuesday. It is closed Monday to mark the Respect for the Aged Day national holiday.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 is up 3 points or 0.1 percent to 3133.8, with market heavyweight News Corp leading the way. It is up 2.31 percent to A$9.76.

Big miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are both about 1 percent higher, to A$32.26 and A$9.45 respectively. BHP makes about a third of its earnings from oil.

The Australian big banks are mixed, with NAB and CBA higher but ANZ and Westpac both in the red.

Retailer Woolworths is 1.7 percent higher to A$12.60, and rival Coles Myer -- at the center of a boardroom battle -- is about a third of apercent higher to A$5.84.

Kospi lower


Taiwan's two big chip foundries, TSMC and UMC, are both lower Monday

In Seoul, the Kospi is off sharply, down 11.9 points or 1.66 percent to 706.21. The market's biggest stock, Samsung Electronics, opened the day up slightly, but then slipped to be down 0.75 percent at 329,000 won.

SK Telecom, usually a favorite with overseas investors, also opned higher before dipping 2.1 percent to 233,000 won.

Hyundai Motor and Hynix Semiconductor are in the red, but big steelmaker Posco is a gainer, up 0.4 percent to 116,500 won.

Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan's Taiex is down 1.93 percent to 4493.76, with the market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, off 2 percent to T$47.10.

Singapore's Straits Times is flat, trading in and out of the black. Heading towards noon it is at 1431.55.

New Zealand's Top 40 is also lower, off 0.21 percent to 2036.49.

Asian markets are trading thinly with Tokyo closed. On Friday, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average fell 1.84 percent or 173.30 points to 9241.93, dragged down by falls in tech issues following a 2.7 percent decline on the U.S. Nasdaq index.

The broader capital-weighted Topix index gave up 1.33 percent or 12.22 points to 908.41.

In the U.S. on Friday, Wall Street closed lower for the third week in a row, on uncertainty about Iraq and sober comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 66.72 points or 0.8 percent to 8312.69. The Nasdaq composite gained 11.72 or 0.9 percent to 1291.40.