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Asia stumbles to close
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June 30, 2000: 6:02 a.m. ET
Telecom, tech stocks tumble on concern over profit, growth outlook
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's biggest markets fell on Friday, with technology and telecom stocks taking a battering amid concern about the outlook for profits, after a series of earnings reports from U.S. companies missed analysts' forecasts.
Asian telecom stocks weakened in step with their counterparts in other regions, after Kurt Hellstrom, chief executive of Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson, warned Thursday that the high cost of licenses to operate next-generation mobile-phone services could both hurt mobile companies' profitability and slow the growth of the cellphone market.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average of 225 stocks slipped 64.85 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 17,411.05, led by declines for the country's dominant mobile-phone operator NTT DoCoMo and cellphone component maker Kyocera. The index closed 2.6 percent higher on the week.
Telecom shares also depressed the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, which dropped 131.02 points, or 0.8 percent, to 16,155.78, closing more than 2.5 up from a week earlier.
Singapore's Straits Times index fell 11.74 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,037.97, little changed from the previous Friday. Electronics and tech stocks, such as Creative Technology and Datacraft, led the decline.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney bucked the trend, rising 56.7 points, or 1.7 percent, to 3,257.6, with mining giant Rio Tinto and banking stocks such as Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking Corp. heading higher.
In the U.S. Thursday, the Nasdaq composite index shed 63.11 points, or more than 1.6 percent, to 3,877.23 amid concern about corporate profits after a spate of weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings reports. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 129.75, or 1.2 percent, to 10,398.04.
In the currency market, the yen weakened slightly to ¥105.48 per dollar from ¥105.23 in late trading in New York on Thursday.
Bad day for mobiles, electronics
In Tokyo, Mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo tumbled 4.6 percent, while its parent Nippon Telegraph and Telephone slipped 1.4 percent. Japan Telecom lost 2.1 percent, and Kyocera declined 2.7 percent
Consumer electronics firm Sony fell 2, while Internet investor Softbank dropped 0.7 percent and its struggling rival Hikari Tsushin dropped 7.2 percent.
Building firm Kumagai Gumi leapt 20.7 percent and construction rival Hazama jumped 21.1 percent on speculation the government might bail out the heavily indebted companies.
Nissan Motor climbed 4.3 percent, extending Thursday's gain, on news it would combine three of its financial services units to raise its presence in the consumer auto finance field.
In Hong Kong, China Mobile fell 4.8 percent after registering gains over the previous four sessions in a falling market.
Hutchison Whampoa fell 1.5 percent in reaction to Thursday's cautionary comments on the mobile-phone market by Ericsson president Hellstrom. Hutchison is committed to investing in advanced cellphone networks in Europe. Elsewhere in the sector, Cable & Wireless HKT dropped 2 percent CCT Telecom lost 1.5 percent, and Pacific Century CyberWorks slipped almost 1 percent.
Property and banking stocks gave the market some support, with Sun Hung Kai Properties up 3.2 percent, Cheung Kong rising 1.2 percent, and Henderson Land gaining 1.5 percent. British-based HSBC Holdings rose 2 percent and Bank of East Asia climbed 2.8 percent.
All other markets across the region headed higher. The KLSE index in Kuala Lumpur rose 0.4 percent, Jakarta's JSX climbed 0.5 percent, Bangkok's composite SET index rose 0.3 percent and Taiwan's Weighted index gained 1.8 percent.
The Kospi index in Seoul climbed 0.3 percent and Manila's PHS Composite edged up 0.1 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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