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Japan leads Asian stock slide
TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo led a broad slide among Asian stocks Friday, after Wall Street's sharp fall. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average ended the day down 2.57 percent at 8,690.77, with DoCoMo, Sony and NEC at the head of a broad retreat. Big banks Mizuho and UFJ plunged, pushing the broader Topix down 2.05 percent to 862.49. Japan was the region's worst performer, but virtually all markets were down. Only Taiwan and New Zealand finished higher, with a gain of 1.11 percent for the Taiex and a miniscule 0.01 for the NZSE Top 40. South Korea's Kospi and Australia's S&P/ASX200 both lost about 1 percent, with Hong Kong only slightly better off. Singapore is down slightly, off 0.29 percent near the close Markets in Asia came under pressure early after Nasdaq sold off 2.98 percent on Thursday trade in the United States. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.11 percent to finish at 8,586.24. (U.S. roundup) DoCoMo down in Tokyo
In Tokyo, the selloff in U.S. techs sent NEC down 3.16 percent to 460 yen and Mitsubishi Electric off 4.4 percent to 302 yen. Toshiba, Fujitsu and Hitachi also fell, as did chip-equipment maker Advantest, off 4.3 percent to 4,890 yen. NTT DoCoMo, the market's largest stock, dropped 5.8 percent to 227,000 yen after posting a 95 percent drop in profit after the close on Thursday. (Full story) Parent NTT lost 2.9 percent to 465,000 yen. DoCoMo rival KDDI, which reported earnings after the close, fell 3.9 percent lower to 347,000 yen. (Full story) But banks were the biggest losers, with Mizuho Holdings down 7.65 percent at 169,000 yen and UFJ Holdings off 8.7 percent to 157,000 yen. The government is still pushing the banks to speed up their writeoffs of bad loans. Gamemaker Sega tumbled again, off 16.5 percent to 1,012 yen after its profit warning led to a downgrade by Morgan Stanley. (Full story) Australia lower on NewsIn Australia, the S&P/ASX200 fell 0.99 percent to 3,008.8 Big media group News Corp. dipped again, down 1.96 percent to A$11.52, giving back some of the gains it made after strong earnings this week. National Australia Bank rose 0.53 percent to A$32.19, recovering some of Thursday's 5.4 percent drop after its record earnings still managed to disappoint the market. (Full story) Wine group BRL Hardy dropped 4 percent to A$7.79 and brewer Lion Nathan lost 2 percent. In Wellington, Telecom New Zealand put on 1.05 percent to NZ$4.82, helping the broader market to break even. But fund manager and insurer Tower, which shocked the market with its profit warning earlier in the week, fell again, down 7.89 percent to NZ$1.75. Hong Kong sliding in sympathy
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 0.7 percent down at 9,775.75. Hutchison Whampoa lost 1.46 percent to HK$50.50. HSBC, which gained ahead of the U.S. rate cut on Wednesday, eased 0.28 percent to HK$88.50. China-oriented plays supported the market, as the 16th Communist Party Congress started in Beijing. (Special report) Oil producer CNOOC put on 1.52 percent to HK$10.05, while mobile-phone play China Unicom rose 2.8 percent to HK$5.50. China said Thursday that select international institutions would be allowed to buy into its A share market for the first time. (Full story) Korea off 1.77 percentIn Seoul, South Korea's benchmark Kospi fell 0.94 percent to 674.85. Samsung Electronics was down 1.9 percent to 359,500 won after its U.S. chip peers declined. Hyundai Motor lost 3.2 percent, but cell-phone service SK Telecom recovered from an early fall to close 2.4 percent higher at 236,500 won. Kookmin Bank, the country's largest, dropped 1.86 percent to 42,200 won on a report it is interested in buying KorAm Bank. (Full story) Taiwan a rare gainerTaiwan's Taiex gained 1.11 percent to 4,811.01 despite a 1 percent decline to T$51.00 by TSMC, its largest listing. The other big chip foundry, UMC, rose 1.42 percent to T$28.50 and screenmaker Au Optronics rose 2.80 percent to A$25.80. China Airlines rose 6.4 percent to T$16.60 on the prospect of direct flights to mainland China. Singapore's Straits Times index is down 0.29 percent at 1,422.25 in late afternoon trade. SingTel is up 0.74 percent to S$1.37 after falling 3.55 percent the day before as it released earnings. (Full story) On the currency front, the yen is stronger again, at 120.94 to the U.S. dollar at the end of Asian trade.
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