Asian markets mixed on Wall Street fall


Shares in telecom carriers such as NTT DoCoMo dipped after earnings warnings from WorldCom and Ericsson

HONG KONG, China -- Asian markets were mixed by midday Tuesday, after Wall Street fell sharply on earnings warnings from telecom giants.

In Tokyo, shares ended the morning just a shade lower, weighed down by telco issues such as mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo.

The benchmark Nikkei average gave up 0.07 percent, or 7.65 points, to 11,713.99, while the capital-weighted Topix index shed 0.24 percent, or 2.60 points, to 1103.31.

In other regional markets, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan were all easier, while Singapore and South Korea were just into the black.

But Hong Kong defied the downtrend to rise strongly, as investors remained hopeful of local economic recovery.

In the U.S., stocks slumped Monday after grim outlooks from telecommunications giants WorldCom and Ericsson dashed hopes for a recovery in corporate profits.

The technology-laced Nasdaq composite index sank 2.1 percent to 1758.6 points, while the Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.18 percent to 10,136.43.

Telecoms down

In Tokyo, NTT DoCoMo dipped 1.46 percent to 337,000 yen, while parent Nippon Telegraph and Telephone dropped 1.57 percent to 502,000 yen.

Consumer electronics giant Sony shed 1.12 percent to 7,070 yen.

But bargain hunting on PC and chipmakers lent support and capped losses.

NEC, Japan's largest mobile phone handset maker, rose 0.87 percent to 1041 yen and Nikon added 3.58 percent to 1706 yen.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Holdings dropped 1.05 percent to 282,000 yen and UFJ Holdings lost 1.5 percent to 329,000 yen. MTFG was unchanged at 899,000 yen.

In South Korea, stocks recovered from an early fall as some brokers questioned the value of a pact to sell the memory chip operations of Hynix Semiconductor to U.S. rival Micron Technology.

The benchmark Kospi added 0.03 percent to 921.20, while the over-the counter Kosdaq lost 1.48 percent to 81.23.

Micron said Monday it signed an MOU worth $3.4 billion to buy Hynix's memory business.

Hynix lost 60 won to 1115 won, while its main creditor Korea Exchange Bank fell 250 won to 9080 won.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.33 percent to 3402.9.

Australia's two largest telco groups Telstra and SingTel dropped 0.4 percent and 1.2 percent to A$5.23 and A$1.59 respectively.

Market heavyweight and media giant News Crop dragged the whole market down, trading off 2 percent to A$12.63.

But banks rose. ANZ Bank hit a record high of A$18.92, and Westpac climbed 0.3 percent to A$16.16.

Sentiment hurt

Taiwan stocks retreated from a 19-month high, as many technology shares dipped on Nasdaq's fall.

But memory chip shares outperformed after Micron's deal to buy most of Hynix.

The benchmark Taiex fell 64.55 points, or 1 percent, to 6394.47.

DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technologies rose 1.42 percent to T$42.80, while rival Winbond added 1.93 percent to T$26.40.

In Singapore, the market initially faltered before moving back into positive territory, with the key Straits Times Index up 1.41 points or 0.08 percent at 1729.06.

Singapore Airlines lost 2.14 percent to S$13.70.

Electronics contract maker Venture Manufacturing fell 1.72 percent to S$17.10 and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing lost 2.05 percent to S$4.78.

But Creative Technology added 1.9 percent to S$21.60 after the computer peripherals maker posted a fiscal third quarter net profit of $15.1 million or 20 cents per share.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 1.27 percent or 141.58 points at 11,281.40.

A small uptick in crude oil prices helped boost the shares of mainland giant CNOOC by 1.95 percent to HK$10.45.

But Cathay Pacific was down 1.53 percent to HK$12.85.

Shares of banking giant HSBC Holdings gained 0.28 percent to HK$90.75 as investors said the bank probably made sufficient provisions to guard itself from Argentina's economic problems.