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Nikkei again tests 19-year lows
TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese stocks are again testing fresh lows Thursday afternoon, following another tumble on Wall Street and a dramatic slide by bank stocks. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 has finished the morning session down 0.37 percent or 33.92 points to 9015.41 after going as low as 8978.63, just above a 19-year intra-day low seen in early September. On Wednesday, the Nikkei had fallen for a third straight session to end at 9049.33, its lowest close since August 1983. The broader, capital-weighted Topix index is down 0.21 percent at 891.33. Two of the big Japanese banks are both down by 13 percent. Chip stocks are also lower following a sharp fall in sales by U.S. maker AMD. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in South Korea and China are closed for holidays. Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore are all lower, taking their cue from the downturn in U.S. and European markets on Wednesday. Wall Street down
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average finished Wednesday off 2.31 percent to 7755.61, reversing some of the gains from the rally a day earlier. The Nasdaq composite dipped 2.18 percent to 1187.30. (Full story) In Tokyo, major Japanese banks are continuing to take a beating as investors ponder the next moves of the Koizumi administration in attempting to tackle the mountain of bad debt afflicting the banks. Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, is down a massive 13 percent to 221,000 yen. UFJ Holdings is matching that fall, down 35,000 yen or 13.01 percent to 234,000 yen. The remaining two members of the big four, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, are off by a more modest 3 percent. Newly appointed banking regulator Heizo Takenaka on Thursday announced the members of a task force, and aims to have them devise proposals in the next two weeks to hasten disposal of problem loans. DoCoMo on the rise
Mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo, which on Wednesday unveiled a $4.7 billion writedown of its investments in overseas telcos, is up 2.4 percent to 210,000 yen. (Full story) But parent NTT is down about 1 percent to 404,000 yen and rival KDDI is off 3.2 percent to 361,000 yen. Leading carmaker Toyota is up 2.7 percent to 3080 yen. Honda is also higher, up about 1.2 percent, but No. 3 maker Nissan is down 1 percent to 870 yen. Another big gainer is beleaguered utility TEPCO, up 3.6 percent to 2305 yen. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is down 5.26 percent to 288 yen after its Nagasaki shipyard was the scene of a disastrous fire Tuesday night that damaged a huge luxury liner it was building for Britain's P&O Princess Cruises. (Full story) Chipmakers Fujitsu, Toshiba, NEC, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric are all lower. In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 is down 0.15 percent to 2993.7, dragged down by falls in its big banks and resources stocks such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Market heavyweight News Corp continues to gain on the strength of its Telepiu deal in Italy. It is up 1.3 percent to A$9.19. (Full story) Coles reports profitRetailing giant Coles Myer, which reported a full-year profit Thursday of A$353 million, is 4 percent higher to A$6.37. Rival Woolworths is up 1.4 percent to A$12.79. Life insurer and funds manager AMP, battered in recent weeks by problems with its U.K. business that led to a management upheaval, is down about 1 percent to A$11.66. In Hong Kong, price movements are relatively muted, with most changes being less than 1 percent. Notable falls are China Mobile, down 1.35 percent and Hutchison Whampoa, off 1.8 percent. In Singapore, the big banks are lower, with DBS off 0.9 percent, OCBC down about half a percent and UOV down 1.7 percent. Taiwan's tech stocks are down sharply, with the two big chip foundries, TSMC and UMC, down 3.75 percent and 3.95 percent respectively. Via Technologies is off almost 7 percent. On a day of declines, Nan Ya Plastic is a rare gainer, up just 0.38 percent to T$26.20. In the Philippines, leading telco PLDT is steady at 277.5 pesos, following the withdrawal of a deal involving the Gokongwei group and major PLDT shareholder First Pacific. (Full story) Reuters contributed to this report.
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