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Asia ends with a retreat
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July 20, 2000: 6:30 a.m. ET
Cheung Kong buoys Hong Kong but chip concerns, tech woes hit elsewhere
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's main stock markets mostly fell Thursday as weakness among computer chip makers and the previous day's decline on the U.S. Nasdaq composite index depressed several markets, although reports of a looming international mobile-phone deal perked up Hong Kong's benchmark index.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 48.44 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,758.51. Shares of Cheung Kong (Holdings) added 2.9 percent and subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa rallied 1.7 percent on published reports that Germany's Deutsche Telekom had made a higher-than-expected bid for VoiceStream Wireless (VSTR: Research, Estimates), a U.S. mobile phone operator in which Hutchison has a 23 percent stake.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index closed down 3.96 points, or 0.2 percent, at 2,133.25. Local chip firm Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing dropped 3.1 percent, ending a five-day winning streak.
The Tokyo stock exchange, Asia's biggest stock market, was closed for a holiday.
 In other leading Pacific Rim markets, the Taiwan Weighted index in Taipei and the Kospi index in Seoul were undermined by Nasdaq's 2.9 percent fall Wednesday, each falling 2.3 percent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was little changed from the previous day's close.
In the currency market, the dollar softened slightly against the Japanese yen to ¥108.15, from ¥108.24 in New York late on Wednesday.
Telecoms on the move in Hong Kong
Among leading Hong Kong-listed firms, mobile phone company China Unicom rallied 3 percent after striking a $190 million deal with Motorola Inc. (MOT: Research, Estimates) in which the U.S. mobile phone and semiconductor company would expand Unicom's networks in three Chinese provinces, traders said. Rival China Mobile fell 1 percent.
Investors drank up shares of China's Tsingtao Brewery, which rose 14.7 percent after announcing it was in talks with Carlsberg to buy a Shanghai-based brewery that is majority owned by the Danish company.
Expectations that crude oil prices could rise further fueled an 8.8 percent jump for oil producer PetroChina, which closed at HK$1.86 after hitting a record HK$1.88 earlier in the session.
Straits Times index heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications dropped 2.4 percent.
Chipmakers came under pressure in Taiwan after a Merrill Lynch strategist recommended investors hold fewer microchip stocks. Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's biggest microchip foundry, fell 4.9 percent, while memory-chip maker Winbond was down by its daily limit of 7 percent. United Micro slipped 4.3 percent.
Elsewhere in Asia, Jakarta's JSX index fell 0.1 percent, Manila's PHS composite fell 1.8 percent, while the SET index in Bangkok slipped 2.3 percent as investors cashed out of the banking sector. Malaysia's KLSE composite fell 0.7 percent. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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