LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian markets closed lower on Monday, depressed by a sharp drop on the U.S. Nasdaq market Friday after buoyant U.S. growth data raised concerns interest rates are headed higher. While technology stocks were the main victims, many Pacific Rim markets clawed back early losses.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average of 225 stocks fell 111.08 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 15,727.49, with the country's dominant mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo and database software firm Oracle Corp. Japan leading the declines.
The Japanese market wasn't helped by a financial scandal in which the nation's top financial regulator, Kimitaka Kuze, resigned on Sunday for accepting fees and benefits from a trust bank and a builder.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 342.95 points, or 2 percent, to end the session at 16,840.98, led by telecom heavyweight China Mobile and British-based bank HSBC Holdings.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index rose 12.19 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,051.21, with chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor up 2.5 percent and Singapore Telecom climbing 1.7 percent.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index remained marginally in negative territory, down 3.9 points at 3,251.10, with Melbourne IT, a register of Internet domain names, dropping 5.5 percent. Mining stocks were firm, after South African diamond company De Beers announced a A$522.1 million bid for Australian rival Ashton Mining. Shares in Ashton jumped 18 percent.
In the U.S. on Friday, the Nasdaq composite index tumbled 179.23 points, or 4.7 percent, to 3,663.00, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 74.96, or nearly 1 percent, to 10,511.17.
Financial chief forced out
In the currency market, the yen traded at ¥109.51 per U.S. dollar, little changed from ¥109.47 in late trade in New York on Friday.
In Tokyo, condominium firm Daikyo plunged 9 percent after media reports said it paid ¥100 million in 1991 to Financial Reconstruction Commission chief Kimitaka Kuze. Daikyo said it had made an internal investigation and concluded it did not donate money directly to Kuze or the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Kuze resigned on Sunday evening to take responsibility for accepting fees from Daikyo and Mitsubishi Trust & Banking Corp.
Many technology stocks dropped in line with their counterparts on the Nasdaq market in the U.S., reinforcing fears of a prolonged downturn in global technology shares. Sony, considered the high-tech sector's bellwether issue, fell 1 percent. Oracle Corp Japan, a unit of U.S. database software company Oracle Corp (ORCL: Research, Estimates), plunged almost 10 percent.
Telecom stocks tumbled, led by mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo, which fell 3.2 percent, while DDI dipped 5.9 percent and data network integrator NTT Data lost 3.3 percent.
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the technology sector, though, as investors saw the recent declines in some stocks as a cue to buy.
Computer maker Fujitsu rose 8 percent and its rival NEC rose 7 percent. NEC's subsidiary NEC Soft, a systems integrator and software developer, surged 10.2 percent after making its debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday.
Rates, earnings clip HK banks
In Hong Kong, HSBC Holdings and Hang Seng Bank suffered ahead of their first-half results amid fresh worries about U.S. interest rates. HSBC fell 1 percent, Hang Seng dropped 1.5 percent and Bank of East Asia lost 1.6 percent. After the Hong Kong market closed, HSBC reported a better-than-expected 28 percent increase in first-half pretax profit, sparking a rally in its London-traded shares.
Property stocks were depressed by the renewed interest rate concern. New World Development dropped 3.3 percent, Cheung Kong fell 1.9 percent, and Henderson Land declined 2.5 percent.
In the telecom sector, China Mobile, the nation's largest mobile phone operator, fell 3.1 percent. Telecom-to-property conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa dropped 2.7 percent as its mobile-telecom venture with the Netherlands' Royal KPN lined up to bid in an auction of licenses to operate third-generation cellular phone services in Germany.
Among the region's smaller markets, Manila's PHS Composite fell almost 1.4 percent, the SET composite index in Bangkok plunged 2.7 percent, Taiwan's Weighted index slipped 0.4 percent and Jakarta's JSX dropped 1.3 percent.
South Korea's Kospi rose 1.9 percent and Malaysia's KLSE was little changed at 798.83. 
-- from staff and wire reports
|
