LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's major equity markets mostly fell Friday, though losses were mild in contrast to the big declines recorded on the technology-laden U.S. Nasdaq market in its latest panicky session Thursday.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 ended down 104 points, or 0.51 percent, at 20,3337.32 as gains among financial and auto shares tempered sharp falls in the tech sector. The session was the last one of the financial year for 1999/2000, which closed with a year-on-year rise of 28.4 percent on the Nikkei.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng ended down just 0.35 percent at 17,406.54 after sliding as low as 17,107 in morning trade. Singapore's Straits Times bucked the regional trend with a gain of 0.75 percent to 2,132.59, rebounding from a loss earlier in the day.
Tokyo's Nikkei index rose almost 2 percent in the week as a whole. The Hang Seng dropped 2 percent, and the Straits Times index was down 1.1 percent from last Friday.
 Asia's modest declines stood in stark contrast to another session of frenetic selling on the Nasdaq Thursday as investors bailed out of tech stocks. The Nasdaq composite fell 4 percent to 4,457.89, adding to its 3 percent fall Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 38.47 points at 10,980.50, while the broader S&P 500 closed down 1.37 percent at 1,487.92.
In the currency markets, the yen continued to advance amid expectations Japan's influential tankan survey will show improving business confidence Monday. The currency strengthened to ¥105.10 at the end of the Tokyo session against the dollar versus ¥105.35 in late New York trade, and rose to ¥100.60 against the euro from ¥101.10 in New York Thursday. The euro slipped to $0.9580 from $0.9609 the previous day.
In Tokyo, Internet stocks suffered the worst damage. Internet investor Hikari Tsushin fell by its daily limit of 6.3 percent after it lowered its first-half earnings forecast to a ¥13 billion ($124 million) loss, after it previously predicted a ¥6 billion surplus. Sector rival Softbank dropped 5.2 percent. Electronics manufacturers also lost ground, with Hitachi ending 4.4 percent lower.
Firm gains among financial and industrial stocks kept the Nikkei index from falling further. Sakura Bank was the financial sector's best performer, rising 3.7 percent after it agreed to take a 16 percent stake in a new Internet bank planned by Sony Corp., whose own shares ended little changed. Toyota Motor posted the biggest gain among auto shares, up 1.7 percent.
Hang Seng recovers
In Hong Kong, much of the morning tech sell off was reversed in later trade, with techs posting only narrow declines and telecom stocks nosing into the black.
TV operator TVB was the Hang Seng's worst performer, sliding 5 percent after a large rise Thursday. Market heavyweight HSBC Holdings lost 0.27 percent while its domestic arm Hang Seng rose 0.75 percent. Property stocks also lost ground, with Henderson Land ending down 1.7 percent.
 Gains among financial shares helped lift Singapore's Straits Times index, with DBS Group ending up 2.2 percent. But the index's largest component, Singapore Telecom, slid 3.2 percent after announcing plans to cut overseas call charges by more than 50 percent ahead of the sector's deregulation, due to start Saturday.
Smaller markets all fell, with Seoul's Kospi index closing down 3.3 percent at 860.52 as investors bailed out of semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics. The index's decline for the week was also about 3.3 percent.
Sydney's All Ordinaries ended 1.93 percent lower at 3,133.30, with telecom shares hit hardest. The index lost 3.5 percent on the week and is at its lowest level in four weeks.
Taiwan's TAIEX index retreated 0. 78 percent to close at 9,854.95, with a surge in financial stocks partly countering falls among its tech components. The index still ended the week almost 4 percent higher than its close last Friday.
The Set 50 in Bangkok ended 0.73 percent ahead at 400.32, for a 0.8 percent decline on last Friday's close. Kuala Lumpur's KLSE Composite closed 0.3 percent ahead at 974.38 and the JSX index in Jakarta shed 1.4 percent to end the session at 583.28. Manila's PHS Composite ended 0.95 percent lower at 1,681.95. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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