Asia Markets
Asia yawns at rate cut; Nikkei lower
By Bill Clifford, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 10:28 PM ET Oct 2, 2001
TOKYO (CBS.MW) -- Except for Australia and New Zealand, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region dropped on Wednesday, with investors unconvinced that the Fed's ninth rate cut this year would stimulate the U.S. economy and create demand for Asian exports.
Japan's Nikkei Average started higher but reversed to end the morning session down 60.49 points, or 0.6 percent, at 10,076.07.
Shares of auto giant Honda (7267) (HMC) rose more than 4 percent, but Toyota's stock (7203) (TM) and Nissan (7201) (NSANY) declined after reports that their U.S. vehicle sales were falling.
Shares of Japanese brokerage houses and some exporters were higher, but telecommunications stocks fell.
Hong Kong stock trading was set to resume Wednesday after public holidays this week. South Korea's market reopens Thursday.
Australia cuts rates
Following the U.S. central bank's widely expected half-point interest rate cut, the Reserve Bank of Australia cut its overnight cash target rate a quarter point to 4.5 percent.
The RBA's fifth move since February, bringing the overnight rate to the lowest level since the central bank began publishing rate changes in 1990, made little difference to Sydney share trading, where the All Ordinaries edged up 3.6 points, or 0.1 percent, at 3,077.80.
"Australia's growth performance will most likely be quite solid in the short term," said RBA Governor Ian Macfarlane in a statement. "Slightly further out, however, the dampening effects of the international weakness will be felt."
Bank shares were mixed. National Australia Bank (NAB) rose 0.8 percent to A$8.90. Shares of ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) fell 1.9 percent to A$16.40.
Diversified miner BHP Billiton (BHP) rebounded 1.3 percent, while telecom giant Telstra (TLS) extended its slide 1.1 percent to $5.20.
New Zealand's NZSE-40 extended its rally, adding 1.05 percent to 1,887.56.
Narrowly on the downside
Taiwan's Weighted Index extended the previous day's drubbing to trade down 0.23 percent at 3,483.92.
Singapore's Straits Times Index, which had bucked largely damp trading in the region Tuesday, dipped 0.27 percent to 1,346.70.
Manila's PSE Composite struggled to come off a 3-year low but erased gains; it was down 0.3 percent at 1,104.69.
In Malaysia, the KLSE Composite inched up less than a point, or 0.1 percent to 617.34.
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