Asia stocks down for first time in 2002
January 8, 2002 Posted: 12:42 AM EST (0542 GMT)
cnn.com
Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, is on a tour of Southeast Asia that experts say may well lead to fresh trade deals
By staff and wire reports
HONG KONG, China -- Asian stocks finally flagged on Tuesday, with most major indexes down after the morning sessions.
Only Singapore was trading in positive territory, the Straits Times index up 0.96 percent at 1,712.23 shortly after noon.
Tokyo stocks slipped as they went into afternoon trade on Tuesday. The Nikkei was down 2.4 percent at 10,678.07 in mid-afternoon.
It went into the lunchbreak down 1.70 percent at 10,756.48, while the broader Topix index fell 1.59 percent to 1,038.36.
Traders were also watching the yen, which hit a new three-year weak level against the U.S. dollar, at 132.52 yen to the buck.
It strengthened to 132.35 in the afternoon. |
