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Asian markets close in the red
Staff and wires
TOKYO, Japan -- Nasdaq's plunge to a six-year low sent Asian markets skidding in early trade Tuesday, but an afternoon recovery limited the losses to less than 2 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average closed the day 1.7 percent lower at 9321.64 after dipping more than 3 percent in the morning session. The broader Topix index lost 1.16 percent to 916.04. Major markets in South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong also finished in the red, with Singapore's Straits Times index showing the heaviest fall. Wall Street's downturn Monday on nerves about military action against Iraq quickly flowed through to Asia on Tuesday, and to Japan in particular. U.S. light crude oil spiked above $31 a barrel, a fresh 19-month high, in Asian trading. (Full story) Coming back from a three-day weekend, Japanese tech stocks lost ground, with mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo off 3.3 percent and parent NTT down almost 5.5 percent. Japan's biggest chip-making equipment maker, Tokyo Electron, lost 6.56 percent to 4560 yen. Big banks weakerThe big banks also finished well down. Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, lost 4.2 percent to 251,000 yen. At one point it was down more than 6 percent lower. UFJ, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp were all off about 3 percent, up from early losses of as much as 5 percent. The Nikkei's closing level of 9321 means it has lost almost all the gains made after last Wednesday's surprise announcement by the Bank of Japan that it would buy shares directly from banks to shore up the financial system. In the U.S. Monday, the Nasdaq lost 2.96 percent to 1184.93, closing below 1200 for the first time since September 1996. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 1.43 percent to 7872.15. (Full story) Rate change unlikely
The Federal Open Markets Committee meets later Tuesday to discuss interest rates, but most analysts expect the Fed will leave its benchmark rate unchanged at 1.75 percent. The Fed cut rates 11 times last year to help the U.S. economy but has yet to move this year. The downturn in Japanese telco sector stocks comes after U.S. company JDS Uniphase, the world's number-one maker of fiber-optic components, cut its first-quarter sales guidance. Consumer electronics leader Sony Corp was off 2.69 percent to 5060 yen. Computer and chipmaker Fujitsu eased 2.8 percent lower to 518 yen, while both Toshiba and Matsushita Electric Industrial dipped 5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota, Mazda and Nissan made modest gains, but Honda fell 1.5 percent and Mitsubishi Motors lost 4.5 percent. Korea telcos upIn South Korea, the Kospi closed down about 1 percent to 672.28, with leading automaker Hyundai Motor off a sharp 3 percent and market heavyweight Samsung Electronics down 0.8 percent. But telcos are higher, investor favorite SK Telecom up 1.77 percent and KT Corp 2.32 percent stronger after a government budget forecast for 2003 that envisages economic growth of about 6 percent. (Full story) Big steelmaker Posco underperformed the Kospi index, off 3.64 percent to 106,500 won. AMP resignation
In Australia, market movements were dominated by the resignation of AMP chief executive Paul Batchelor, following three days of sharp price slides flowing from problems with AMP's Pearl business in the U.K. (Full story) AMP closed at a fresh record low, down 1.05 percent to A$11.29. Big resources stocks BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto lost 1.9 percent and 0.9 percent respectively. The big four banks were also weaker, but fifth-ranked St George bank added 0.7 percent. News Corp, the market's biggest stock, provided one of the brightest notes, up 3.3 percent to A$9.38. In Singapore, bluechips were broadly lower. The country's biggest bank, DBS, dipped about 4 percent. UOB and OCBC also eased, and Singapore Airlines lost 1.9 percent. Taiwan's Taiex closed 0.96 percent lower at to 4286.94, as industrials again slipped. Petrochemical stocks fell sharply for the second straight day, with Formosa Plastic off 6.85 percent to T$31.30 and Nan Ya Plastic down 6.76 percent to T$26.20. Chip foundry UMC is up 1.69 percent to T$24.10, while its larger rival TSMC, the market's biggest stock, is up about half a percent to T$42.30. Hong Kong was also broadly lower, with the Hang Seng index down about 1.25 percent to 9197.68. Banking leader HSBC was down about 2 percent, as were property plays and utilities. The mobile twins, China Mobile and China Unicom, lost 1 percent and 2.5 percent. Chinese oil companies CNOOC and Sinopec were slightly higher.
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