Tokyo opens weaker on techs

Koizumi's LDP made a strong showing in Tokyo's weekend election

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks were slightly weaker in early trade on Monday, led down by high-tech stocks such as NTT DoCoMo and Sony.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average was down 53.38 points or 0.4 percent at 12,991.37, while the broader TOPIX index fell 4.0 points or 0.35 percent to 1,301.06.

Elsewhere in the region, Australia and New Zealand were weaker, but Korean stocks showed some strength.

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In Japan, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp declined after Economics Minister Heizo Takenaka said in a newspaper interview that the country's dominant telecommunications carrier should be broken up completely to foster competition.

The market was also pressured by a 1.16 percent loss on the U.S. Nasdaq market.

Strong showing in Tokyo election

Losses in NTT group firms outweighed upbeat sentiment after a strong showing by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party in the Tokyo election.

The long-ruling LDP got 53 seats in the 127-member Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in Sunday's poll. That was better than its target of 50 and up from the 48 it had.

"The LDP victory came as a market booster, or at least neutral for the market. But the topside was capped by losses on Wall Street," said Yutaka Miura, deputy manager of the equity information section at Shinko Securities.

NTT fell 3.78 percent to 661,000 yen, while its mobile phone unit NTT DoCoMo slid 3.24 percent to 2.09 million yen.

High-tech stocks were mostly lower. Electronics giant Sony Corp was down 1.61 percent to 8,550 yen and chip and computer maker NEC Corp lost 0.45 percent to 1,776 yen.

In Australia, shares in retailing giant Coles Myer slumped more than 11 percent after a profit warning. Coles lost 81 cents to A$6.35.

Reuters contributed to this report.