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Tokyo slumps 1 percent
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June 25, 1999: 5:56 a.m. ET
Nikkei falls 190 points as most Asian markets suffer from U.S. rate hike fears
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LONDON LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian markets endured a largely negative session Friday with U.S. rate worries continuing to plague investors.
The Nikkei 225 fell just over 1 percent to end at 17,436.52 as next week's meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee moved into focus. The same concerns that sent stocks on Wall Street tumbling overnight played on the Japanese market.
U.S. stocks suffered sizable losses Thursday as bond yields headed higher and speculation rose that an expected Fed rate rise next week might be bigger than initially anticipated.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 132.03 points, or 1.2 percent, to end at 10,534.83. The Nasdaq Composite shed 44.13 points, or 1.7 percent, to 2,553.99 and the S&P 500 index lost 17.28, or 1.3 percent, to 1,315.78.
The biggest mover in Tokyo was mobile phone operator NTT Docomo after a five-for-one stock split. Funds welcomed the increased liquidity and swept up the shares, sending them soaring more than 13.5 percent to 1,680,000 yen.
Friday's close marked the end to an uncertain week in Tokyo, which saw the Nikkei add just 5 points during the last five sessions.
Hong Kong just managed to hold onto small gains, after the Hang Seng closed up just 4.39 points at 13,784.51. Jitters about U.S. rates were offset by strong buying in Hutchison. Investors gave the thumbs up to the conglomerate's plans to invest $957 million in U.S. mobile phone operator VoiceStream (VSTR ) as part of the latter's merger with Omnipoint Corp (OMPT ).
Shares in the index heavyweight closed 2.8 percent higher at HK$73.00.
Singapore blue chips were remained in the red in late trading after recent strong gains, with the Straits Times 13.3 points, or 0.61 percent, lower at 2,178.43. Despite this fall the index is up well over 5 percent for the week.
South Korea's Kospi index managed to stave off losses to close 0.54 percent higher at 882.08, marking the end to a strong week, which saw the value of blue chips jump 5.3 percent.
The All Ordinaries index in Sydney ended just inside the minus column Friday, after the market reacted positively to heavyweight BHP reporting the biggest ever Australian corporate loss. The mining giant said net losses for the full year amounted to $1.5 billion. The shares ended 0.6 percent higher at A$16.90, after rising as much as 2.8 percent at one point. The stock represents about 5.6 of the All Ordinaries.
Earlier, Philippine blue chips fell 1.38 percent to end at 2,463.98, while Taiwan's Weighted index slumped 323 points, or 3.76 percent, to end at 8,265.96.
Kuala Lumpur's Composite index was almost flat, up less than 1 point at 802.20, while Bangkok's Set index was just in the red at 543.42. Losses for Jakarta's blue chips mounted late in the session with the index down almost 1.2 percent at 674.14.
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