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Tokyo, Hong Kong recover
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April 24, 2000: 11:41 p.m. ET
Asian tech stocks open mostly weaker; Tokyo, Hong Kong ignore Nasdaq slide
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Asian tech stocks turned mostly sour on Tuesday morning as U.S. tech titan Microsoft failed to regain confidence from investors.
However, the Tokyo market reversed morning losses as stocks recovered from an early scare on Nasdaq's 4.4 percent drop overnight, with the benchmark Nikkei average firming 0.37 percent by midday.
Hong Kong shares also rebounded in early trading on short-covering and bargain hunting. The Hang Seng stock index shrugged off 154-point drop at the open to post a slight gain.
Taiwan stocks recovered from a sharp opening loss to trade in positive territory near midday, though brokers warned a heavy overnight fall in the Nasdaq and slumping telecom shares would prevent a firm rebound.
Taipei's Weighted index was down more than one percent at the open but quickly mounted a comeback, posting gains as high as 0.20 percent. The index was up 2.13 points, or 0.02 percent, at 8,810.29 at mid-session.
Internet and tech stocks listed on South Korea's main board opened lower while over-the-counter shares were off more than three percent.
Korea's main stocks index KOSPI opened down 9.02 points or 1.21 percent at 738.56, with chip maker Samsung Electronics down 2.07 percent to 284,000 won in line with sharp overnight falls in U.S. chip stocks. The tech-heavy Kosdaq over-the-counter exchange was down 5.73 points or 3.36 percent at 164.87 after two minutes of trade.
Singapore rose in early trading on Tuesday, boosted by national carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) which is expected to reap S$500 million from listing two subsidiaries in May.
Its key Straits Times index was up 13.69 points, or 0.67 percent, at 2,063.47, after an initial wade into negative territory. SIA shares added to recent gains with a rise of 50 cents, or 2.91 percent, to S$17.70, adding 5.3 points to the benchmark index.
Japan stocks rebound
Tokyo stocks recovered earlier losses, and market traders said they ought to buy, given expectations of more buying by investment trusts and upbeat economic data.
"Sentiment's quite neutral now after the initial selling, and investors are now taking a wait-and-see stance ahead of economic indicators," said Hiroyuki Nakai, senior executive officer of investment research at Nippon Global Securities.
Japan is due to release a raft of data this week, including industrial output and unemployment, which market players will look to for signs of recovery amid lingering talk of a rate hike by the Bank of Japan.
 The Nikkei 225 index, which at one point fell around one percent to 18,285.80, perked up to stand at 18,549.11, up 68.96 points, by midday.
The market's recovery came as no surprise to many traders.
"There was no reason to panic anyway, since the Nasdaq did recover some losses towards the close and the Dow finished with gains," said a trader at a Japanese brokerage. "Also, everyone has pretty high expectations for investment trust buying."
Several investment trusts with a combined ceiling of up to around 800 billion yen are due to be launched later this week.
The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares firmed 0.44 percent to 1,668.17. Gainers outnumbered losers 683 to 545, while 154 issues were unchanged on the first section. Turnover was slightly weak at 238.25 million, down from Monday morning's 343.03 million.
The market's change of mood was represented by movements in high-tech heavyweight Sony Corp., which fell almost two percent to 12,450 yen before recovering by midday, up 0.31 percent at 12,740 yen.
It had also risen on Monday after media reports it was close to buying a stake in Fuji Television Network Inc. Fuji TV shares extended gains by 5.03 percent to 1.88 million yen.
Other high-tech issues were mixed by midday.
Troubled mobile phone subscription and key Internet investor Hikari Tsushin Inc. fell by its 2,000 yen limit to 17,800, continuing its two-month slide after the firm said it would suffer an operating loss of 11.6 billion yen for the year to August. Its shares have fallen 92.6 percent from an intraday peak hit on February 15.
Rival Internet investor Softbank Corp. extended its recovery of the past few sessions, rising by its daily limit of 2,000 yen or 10.47 percent to 21,100. Its share price was adjusted to 19,100 yen from Monday's closing price of 57,300 before trading began, in line with its three-for-one share split which takes effect June 23 for shareholders as of April 30.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar gained value against the Japanese yen at the start of the Tokyo business day Tuesday.
The 9 a.m. quote on the Tokyo Foreign Exchange has the dollar at 105.72 yen, up 0.04 yen from the end of the previous business day in Tokyo.
Hong Kong investors focus on government land auction
Hong Kong stocks erased opening losses despite a sharp decline in the Nasdaq overnight. The blue chip Hang Seng index was up 69.27 points or 0.45 percent to 15,436 after dropping 154 points shortly after the market opened.
 "There are some bargain hunting at lows for blue chips but I think the market is likely to move within a range of 15,100 and 15,700 points," said Peter Lai, a director at OCBC Securities.
Micro-motor maker Johnson Electric gained HK$1.75 or nearly three percent to HK$60.50 and HSBC Holdings added HK$0.50 or 0.57 percent to HK$88.25.
Properties stocks were steady to higher ahead of the government's land auction scheduled for 2:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday.
"The auction results are likely to be neutral but if the site in Repulse Bay could be sold at a good price it should give property stocks a boost," Lai said.
Analysts expect the luxury residential site in Repulse Bay on Hong Kong to fetch between HK$120 million to HK$150 million and the site in Cheung Sha Wan, West Kowloon to be sold for HK$2.46 billion to HK$3.58 billion.
Henderson Land rose HK$0.40 to HK$36.80, and Sun Hung Kai Properties edged up HK$0.25 to HK$61.25, but Cheung Kong was unchanged at HK$87.25.
Microsoft drags Wall Street sharply lower
In New York, the Nasdaq fell 161.35, or nearly 5 percent, to 3,482.53, building on a 150-point loss suffered Wednesday and Thursday. The index now stands just 161 points above its lowest close of the year.
S&P futures on Globex
The broader S&P 500, where Microsoft is also a member, shed 4.68 to 1,429.86.
But the Dow gained for the second time in two sessions, rising 62.05 to 10,906.10 as money moved into drug makers and financial stocks shunned for most of the year. 
- from staff and wire reports
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