Asian stocks reel from U.S. slump


Stocks in Taiwan fell again Tuesday, following a 6% fall on Monday

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian stocks took a heavy blow Tuesday from the slump on Wall Street, with the region's biggest market, Japan, closing more than 2 percent lower.

U.S. tech stocks fell to a five-year low Monday, with Nasdaq down 3.36 percent to 1206.01(Full U.S. roundup).

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average fell below 9500 for the first time in six months in the morning session, driven down by weaker techs such as Sony and Fujitsu.

It struggled back to close 2.1 percent or 203.91 points down at 9501.02. At one point the Nikkei hit 9439, near its 18-year low of 9420.85 seen in February this year.

The broader capital-weighted Topix finished the day down 1.67 percent or 15.94 points at 939.42. Big banks Mizuho and UFJ were a heavy drag on the market.

Every Asian market closed in the red, though the Kospi in Seoul was off only 1.98 points or 0.3 percent to 673.78.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 came back from a 50-point fall to close 0.78 percent or 23.6 points lower at 2985.6. New Zealand's Top 40 fell by the same percentage.

Taiwan falls again


Sony, which is heavily dependent on exports to the U.S., closed Tuesday at a nine-month low of 4980 yen

Taiwan's Taiex, which tumbled almost 6 percent on Monday after aggressive "separate country" comments at the weekend by President Chen Shui-bian, lost more ground Tuesday (Full Story).

It finished 64.32 points or 1.39 percent down at 4572.35, after going as low as 4506.60.

In South Korea, where the central bank left rates unchanged Tuesday(Full Story), chip heavyweight Samsung Electronics lost 2.9 percent to 300,000 won. Steelmaker Posco eased 2.3 percent to 105,500 won.

But Hyundai Motor, telco SK Telecom and utility Kepco all ended higher.

Singapore's Straits Times index is down more than 2 percent to 1448.70 heading towards the close.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index likewise closed down, off 1.64 percent to 9700.69.

Hong Kong's dollar is pegged to the U.S. currency and its share market usually tracks Wall Street closely.

Wall Street at five-year low

U.S. markets fell across the board Monday, as the International Monetary Fund warned that it saw an increased risk the U.S. economic recovery would be weaker than expected.(Full Story)

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 3.24 percent or 269.50 points to close at 8043.63, logging a third straight triple-digit decline.

The Nasdaq composite fell 3.36 percent or 41.91 points to 1206.01, within spitting distance of a six-year low. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave back 29.64 points to end the day at 834.60.

Fears that the U.S. economic recovery has hit a roadblock fuelled concerns about the earnings of export-dependent Japanese companies such as Sony.

"We cannot help but shift money to defensive issues, those which are affected little by external factors," Hiroshi Nishida of Mitsubishi Trust Asset Management told Reuters news agency.

Sony, Fujitsu lower

Consumer electronics leader Sony tumbled 2.54 percent to 4980 yen, a nine-month low.

Chip and computer maker NEC fell 1.88 percent to 628 yen and rival Fujitsu dropped 2.2 percent to 622 yen.

Tokyo Electron, Japan's biggest maker of chipmaking test equipment, was off 3.46 percent to 5020 yen.

Leading automaker Toyota lost almost 2 percent to 2815 yen, Nissan fell 2.7 percent and Honda eased 1 percent.

Two big banks were sharply weaker. Mizuho Holdings dropped a massive 6 percent to 262,000 yen and UFJ fell 3.5 percent to 276,000 yen. But MTFG rose 1.1 percent.

Telco giant NTT dipped 3.2 percent to 474,000 yen. KDDI lost 4.1 percent.

News leads Australia lower

In Australia, News Corp was off 0.45 percent to A$8.77 after falling within 2 cents of its four-year low of A$8.44 seen last month.

Other big bluechips Telstra, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton -- which reports full-year earnings Wednesday -- and CBA were all lower.

One of the day's worst performers was insurer and funds manager AMP, which dipped 3.7 percent to a record low of A$12.94.

In Taiwan, some of the techs stocks which fell hard on Monday recovered a little. Asustek Computer is up 1.85 percent to T$82.50.

Chip foundry TSMC, the market's biggest stock, is down 0.86 percent to T$46.10. But its smaller rival UMC is up 2.28 percent to T$26.90.

In Hong Kong, HSBC was down slightly to HK$84.75 after the banking giant reported a 7 percent decline in first half net profit Monday (Full Story).

Most other Hong Kong bluechips finished flat or lower.

In Singapore, bank OCBC is down 5.3 percent after reporting a 30 percent fall in first half profit.

Reuters contributed to this report.