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Tokyo, HK suffer tech spill
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September 12, 2000: 6:25 a.m. ET
Japan Internet firms dip, Hang Seng telecoms fall; oil price hike hits airlines
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LONDON (CNNfn) - A continued retreat for technology stocks drove Asia's main stock markets lower Tuesday on the heels of a second straight losing session for the U.S. Nasdaq composite.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index closed down 90.67 points, or 0.6 percent, at 16,040.23, its 10th daily decline in the past 11 sessions. Traders said the index has recently been hit by sales of shares that companies hold in other units of the same corporate group.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended down 378.20 points, or 2.2 percent,  at 16,629.78, its lowest close since July 6 amid declines for top telecom stocks.
The Straits Times index in Singapore closed down 33.55 points, or 1.6 percent, at 2,086.06. But heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications added 2.9 percent, bucking the sector's weak trend, after the government of Singapore said it would give S$859 million ($494 million) to compensate the company for early liberalization of the telecom sector.
Elsewhere along the Pacific Rim, Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 closed up 0.8 percent at 3,324. Markets in Taipei and Seoul were closed for holidays.
The losses across Asia came in the wake of another retreat on Wall Street Monday. The Nasdaq composite index fell 2.1 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial average fell 25.16 points, or 0.2 percent, 11,195.49.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar nosed up to ¥106.21, from ¥106.16 at the end of the previous business day in Tokyo.
Internets take a drubbing in Tokyo
On the Tokyo exchange, Internet investor Softbank, which has holdings in many U.S. online companies, dropped 6.6 percent while fellow Net investor Hikari Tsushin fell 3.1 percent.
NEC, Japan's biggest computer chip manufacturer, fell 2.3 percent, while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron dropped 2.8 percent and semiconductor testing device maker Advantest fell 0.9 percent.
Mitsubishi Electric dropped 1.1 percent after Japanese media reports that the electronics maker failed to own up to client complaints about defects in television sets -- another cover-up scandal involving a Mitsubishi group firm.
Scandal-tainted Mitsubishi Motors slid 5.7 percent. The company, which has confessed that for decades it covered up customer complaints, faces a struggle to regain public trust, having this week agreed to the appointment of executives from Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX: Research, Estimates),  which owns about a third of the Japanese automaker.
In Hong Kong, telecom stocks were lower, with Hutchison Whampoa down 2.7 percent. The decline came a day after Hutchison said it would shed part of its stake in U.K. mobile-phone operator Vodafone Group via the sale of a US$2.5 billion bond convertible into Vodafone shares. Hang Seng index heavyweight China Mobile dropped 1.3 percent.
Cheung Kong Holdings, Hutchison's parent, fell 2.8 percent.
Internet and telephone company Pacific Century CyberWorks dropped 3.6 percent amid speculation that Cable & Wireless shareholders may soon offload PCCW shares they acquired during its takeover of C&W HKT.
Airlines across Asia were spooked by rising oil costs, as Nymex crude oil futures prices in New York rose to new 10-year highs. Among the leading carriers along the Pacific Rim, Hong Kong-listed Cathay Pacific slipped 2.3 percent, Australia's Qantas shed 1.6 percent and Singapore Airlines, the most profitable airline in Asia, fell 2.4 percent.
China Southern Airlines sank 8.8 percent while China Eastern Airlines dropped 7.3 percent.
In the Hong Kong oil sector, refiner Shanghai Petrochemical sank 9.2 percent, as oil producer PetroChina, which stands to benefit from rising prices, gained 2.7 percent.
In Sydney, shares of media company News Corp. rose 2.8 percent while energy and mining firm BHP jumped 3.2 percent.
Among other Asian markets, the KLSE Composite in Malaysia added 0.4 percent, the PHS Composite in Manila fell 0.3 percent, the JSX in Jakarta tumbled 2.5 percent and Bangkok's SET index fell 0.6 percent. 
- from staff and wire reports
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