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Tokyo ails, Singapore sails
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November 16, 2000: 6:28 a.m. ET
Domestic political scene, weak telecoms hit Japan; Singapore rises 1.3%
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Concerns about Japan's political outlook and a retreat for technology and telecom stocks dragged Tokyo's main index lower Thursday, while "new-economy" shares drove leading market gauges in Singapore and Hong Kong up more than 1 percent.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average closed down 212.11 points, or 1.4 percent, at 14,587.03. Traders said uncertainty about the fate of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who is facing growing calls for his resignation from  within his own party, was acting as a brake on buying.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ended up 170.95 points, or 1.1 percent, at 15,298.35 as mobile-phone company China Mobile rallied 3.2 percent.
Singapore's Straits Times index climbed 24.66 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,982.34, with Singapore Telecommunications jumping 4.4 percent and contract electronics maker JIT Holdings rallying 5 percent.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney fell 0.5 percent, dragged down by a 5.1 percent drop for media company News Corp. Traders speculated the shares were hit by a U.S. Justice Department request for more information about News Corp.'s buyout of TV station owner Chris-Craft and its subsidiaries.
In other markets, the Taiwan Weighed index in Taipei fell 4.9 percent as concerns a financial crisis may be looming triggered a sell-off. Korea's KOSPI index fell 0.4 percent.
On Wall Street Wednesday, the Nasdaq composite rose 0.9 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average added 0.25 percent. But Asia got little  support from subdued gains in U.S. technology issues after the Federal Reserve left key U.S. rates unchanged but said inflation still might force the Fed to hike interest rates in the future.
In the currency market Thursday, the U.S. dollar climbed to ¥108.81 from ¥108.06 at the end of the previous business day in Tokyo.
In Tokyo, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest company by market capitalization, fell 2 percent after a 6 percent rise the previous day. DoCoMo's parent Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) shed 4 percent.
Among other telecom stocks, KDDI shed 4.5 percent while Japan Telecom fell 1.4 percent. Hikari Tsushin, which has holdings in the telecom and Internet sectors, tumbled 6.4 percent.
Internet investor Softbank, which has big holdings in many Nasdaq-listed stocks, rose 5 percent.
In the technology sector, equipment maker Kyocera fell 2.3 percent and chipmaker NEC dropped 3 percent. Chip and computer maker Fujitsu fell 2.2 percent, extending a 13.9 percent decline over the past five sessions.
High-tech bellwether Sony slipped 2.1 percent and rival Matsushita Electrical Industries, the parent of Panasonic, dropped 3.6 percent.
 Toyota Motor lost 4.2 percent after Japan's No. 1 automaker and its second-largest firm by market value said late Wednesday its group operating profit rose to ¥376.10 billion ($3.46 billion) in the six months to Sep. 30, in line with expectations, from ¥362.6 billion a year earlier.
Japanese banks also weakened. Tokai Bank fell 1.1 percent, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi fell 2 percent and Sumitomo Bank slipped 1.9 percent.
Traders attributed investor jitters partly to speculation ahead of an imminent quarterly reshuffle of Morgan Stanley Capital International's global stock indexes. Any changes are likely to force mutual funds that track an index to adjust their holdings.
Hong Kong gets modest lift
The new-economy sector was upbeat in Singapore and Hong Kong. Hutchison Whampoa, a property and telecom company, added 1 percent, while computer maker Legend Holdings climbed 2.4 percent.
Index heavyweight HSBC, a global bank based in London, added 1.3 percent. Among conglomerates, First Pacific rose 2.3 percent and China Resources rallied 5.2 percent.
Banking stocks, along with SingTel, powered the Singapore index's gain. United Overseas Bank climbed 0.8 percent, Overseas Union Bank added 1.2 percent and DBS Group, Southeast Asia's biggest bank by assets, rose 1.6 percent.
Network systems integrator Datacraft Asia rose 3.5 percent, while electronic goods maker Elec & Eltek jumped 3.7 percent.
In Sydney, C&W Optus rose 5.8 percent after Cable & Wireless, the British Internet services and telecom group, on Wednesday signaled a long-awaited break-up of Optus, its 52.5 percent-owned Australian unit.
In Taipei, tech shares were hit hard. Chip companies Taiwan Semiconductor and United Microelectronics each fell 6.5 percent, while computer maker Acer sank 6.6 percent.
Elsewhere across Asia, the KLSE composite index in Malaysia fell 1 percent, Bangkok's SET index rose 0.4 percent, the PHS composite in Manila slipped 0.1 percent, the JSX index in Jakarta shed 0.4 percent and Mumbai's BSE Sensex index fell 1.1 percent.
--from staff and wire reports 
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