Asian stocks finish in the red


Australia's market closed lower Monday after spending most of the day in the black. News Corp stayed higher.

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Asian stock markets closed mainly lower Monday, drifting down on Mideast war fears in thin trade. Tokyo was closed for a holiday.

The biggest losers were Taiwan and South Korea, where the markets tumbled 2.7 percent and 1.92 percent respectively.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also dipped sharply, losing 1.9 percent to 9467.91. Telco PCCW touched a record low of HK$1.11, off 6.7 percent.

New Zealand finished 0.14 percent lower, while Australia's S&P/ASX200 gave up 0.16 percent after trading in the black for most of the day.

Singapore is flat near the close. It is down 0.02 percent to 1431.69.

The Tokyo stock market reopens Tuesday after being closed Monday to mark the Respect for the Aged Day national holiday.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 finished lower at 3125.7, despite market heavyweight News Corp putting on more than 1 percent to A$9.64. At one point News jumped almost 3 percent to A$9.82.

Big resources group BHP Billiton added 1.07 percent to A$9.43 as global oil prices hovered near $30 a barrel ahead of Thursday's OPEC meeting in Japan. (Full story). BHP makes about a third of its earnings from oil.

Australia's other big miner, Rio Tinto, added about half a percent to A$32.10.

The big banks were mainly lower, with only CBA staying out of the red. Telstra, Australia's biggest telco, dipped 2.4 percent to A$4.84.

Retailer Woolworths had one of the day's best gains, up 1.94 percent to A$12.62. Rrival Coles Myer -- which has been at the center of a boardroom battle -- added 0.17 percent to A$5.83.

Kospi lower


Hong Kong's market took a big hit, dipping almost 2 percent. PCCW tumbled.

In Seoul, the Kospi finished off sharply, down 13.79 points or 1.92 percent to 704.38.

The market's biggest stock, Samsung Electronics, opened the day up slightly, but then slipped to be down 1.21 percent to 327,500 won at the close. Last Friday Samsung revealed it had won a $400 million deal to supply CDMA phones to China Unicom. (Full story)

SK Telecom, usually a favorite with overseas investors, also opened higher before dipping 2.52 percent to 232,000 won.

Hyundai Motor, which confirmed a higher sales target in 2003, finished 1.5 percent lower at 33,000 won. (Full story)

Chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor dipped 11 percent to 480 won, but big steelmaker Posco finished unchanged at 116,000 won.

Daewoo Motor Sales, a proxy for Daewoo Motor, was a rare gainer, up 1.8 percent to 9000 won.

Taiwan off sharply


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

Taiwan's Taiex was the region's worst performer, losing 2.69 percent to 4457.16, its lowest close since November last year. The Taiex, which is often susceptible to movements on the U.S. Nasdaq, dipped on a reported fall in U.S. consumer sentiment.

The volatile market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, was off 1.87 percent to T$47.20. its smaller rival, UMC, did worse, dipping 3.7 percent to T$25.90.

In Hong Kong, most blue chips were down, with China Mobile and China Unicom both giving up more than 2 percent. Banking leader HSBC dipped about 0.3 percent to HK$85.25.

Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa lost 4 percent to HK$49.10.

Singapore's Straits Times is flat at 1431.69, heading towards the close. The big three banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB, are all higher, but SingTel is down 2 percent and Singapore Airlines is off almost 3 percent.

New Zealand's Top 40 finished just in the red, off 0.14 percent to 2038.08.

Along with nervousness about a possible U.S. strike against Iraq and its impact on oil prices, Asian markets traded 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.