Asia Markets
Tokyo, Seoul stocks flat; HK lower
Taiwan extends rally by 2.6%
By Bill Clifford, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 2:39 AM ET Oct 5, 2001
TOKYO (CBS.MW) -- After a wishy-washy cue from Wall Street, investors in Asia sought to take profits on the previous session's region-wide rally. Volatility largely disappeared, leaving Japan's Nikkei Average and a handful of other stock indexes flat.
A standout was Taiwan's Weighted Index, which rose 2.63 percent on sentiment buoyed by looser monetary policy at home and recent gains in the U.S. Nasdaq stocks.
Japanese bank stocks led an early decline in the Nikkei, but traders squared positions ahead of a three-day holiday weekend and the benchmark gauge (65599W10) ended up just 0.39 point at 10,205.87.
In equally dull Tokyo currency trading, the dollar barely budged from its open at 120.48 yen. Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa has said Japan has no plan to seek coordinated intervention to weaken the yen when Group of Seven ministers meet this weekend.
Stock and currency market participants were also hesitant to trade actively ahead of the U.S. employment report Friday. See the preview story.
Shares of Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank by assets, sank 5.1 percent to 442,000 yen.
Investors remain skittish that the general bad-loan clean up is proceeding too slowly.
Banking regulators late Thursday ordered Shinsei Bank, the first Japanese lender to be taken over by foreign investors, to boost lending to small and medium-sized borrowers. This intense pressure to support shaky customers comes as Shinsei tries to adhere to strict Western lending guidelines.
Shares of tiremaker Bridgestone (BRDCY) gained 4.6 percent to 980 yen, despite news that its U.S. unit, Bridgestone/Firestone, will recall an additional 3.5 million Wilderness AT tires (see story.). Bridgestone said in Tokyo the recall could cost up to $30 million ($3.6 billion yen).
Elsewhere in the automotive sector, Nissan Motor shares (NSANY) advanced 5.6 percent.
Shares of chipmakers extended gains. Toshiba, Japan's biggest, and NEC (NIPNY) both rose more than 5 percent.
Hong Kong eases
Hong Kong stocks opened lower, with the Hang Seng slipping 0.72 percent, or 74.32 points, to 10,212.07.
Europe's largest bank HSBC Holdings (HBC) (0005) slid 0.5 percent to HK$84.50 after surging 6.6 percent the day before.
Shares Cathay Pacific Airways (CPCAY) (0293), Hong Kong's only long-haul carrier, fell 2 percent to HK$7.25 after a 3-day rally.
Henderson Land (HLDCY) (0012) shed 4.8 percent to HK$24.95. After the market closed Thursday, the developer posted a 25-percent drop in net profit, in line with expectations, to HK$4.394 billion for the year ended June 30.
In Taiwan, the tech-studded Weighted Index tracked U.S. Nasdaq peers, rising a second day by 2.63 percent to 3,585.46.
Stocks in Sydney rose steadily, with the All Ordinaries up 1.29 percent at 3,107.20.
But New Zealand's NZSE-40 snapped its winning streak this week, dipping 0.18 percent to 1,896.48.
Quietude
Fears of global recession have unnerved export-oriented Asia-Pacific markets, and a U.S.-led military strike in Central Asia could easily exacerbate those tensions. But trading in smaller markets was quiet.
The Philippine central bank's surprise quarter-point cut in overnight lending rates, after the market closed Thursday, failed to boost stocks. Manila's PSE Composite fell 0.59 percent to 1,088.44, its seventh decline in eight days.
South Korea's Kospi Index traded flat but with a negative tone, down less than a point at 500.30.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was virtually unchanged at mid-session, up less than a third of a point at 1,378.
Thailand's SET Index dipped 0.39 percent to 281.92.
Malaysian stocks edged higher with KLSE Composite at 612.69, up less than 2 points. |
