ADR Report - U.S.-traded Asia stocks lead fall
Reuters Markets News - July 24, 2000 14:37
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By Haitham Haddadin
NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - U.S.-traded Asian firms fell Monday amid selloffs in Japanese and Korean bourses catching up with Nasdaq, while the mauling of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG put the heat on European issues.
The Bank of New York's index of Asian ADRs, or American Depository Receipts, fell 3.18 points or 2.10 percent at 147.94 while the bank's index of Latin American ADRs eased 0.42 percent to 107.31.
Meanwhile, the European ADRs index reversed early gains, falling 0.47 percent to 159.92, weighed down by a decline of more than 10 percent in Deutsche Telekom's local shares and ADRs after an announcement Sunday it is acquiring money-losing U.S. mobile phone group VoiceStream Wireless Corp. for $50.7 billion.
Among Japanese firms traded on Wall Street, electronics maker Sony Corp fell 1-7/16 to 95-15/16, chipmaker Hitachi Ltd. 2-11/16 to 119-3/8 and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. 2-1/8 to 61-11/16. Kyocera Corp. , the world's leading maker of integrated circuit ceramic packages, slipped to 153-15/16 for a loss of 4-3/16.
In Tokyo, stocks moved sharply lower Monday as Friday's U.S. stock selloff dented investor confidence, already shaky after a high-profile corporate failure involving retailer Sogo Co Ltd. , which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
"There's overall ambivelence and money is leaving those (Asian) markets in droves," a New York based Asian ADR trader said, referring to Japan and Korea.
"And the performance of the Nasdaq, and in particular the semiconductor index, Friday did not help."
Tracking the Korean bourse which fell 6 percent on the day, all four Korean firms traded in New York eased, with the losses led by telecom firm SK Telecom Co.. , off 3-11/16 to 37-11/16, and telecom services firm Korea Telecom Corp. , down 3-1/8 to 40-1/16.
Among other Asian bellwether firms Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. declined 1-1/8 to 30-13/16 while in telecoms China Mobile Ltd. shed 2-9/16 to 43-3/16.
"For the listed ADRs like Sony, Hitachi, there's nothing exciting to talk about; they are following Japan down," said one trader, who also cited investor jitters over some local company results due to restructuring or currency problems.
"But I think Korea is the one to watch, just because of the violent move down (by the local market) of 6 percent, breaking through support, and it looks like the ADRs are following."
Meanwhile, reversing early gains, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was 1.79 percent off at 4,021.30, atop Friday's 91-point slide, when confidence was hit by profit warnings from Swedish telecom giant Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson and other firms.
Deutsche Telekom's ADRs dove a whopping 6-13/16 to 44-11/16 Monday, while among other Euro telecom firms, France Telecom , fell 4-1/4 to 131-1/2 and Telecom Italia 2-1/2 to 135. But on a positive note, French telecom firm Alcatel was sharply in the black, up 3-7/16 at 75-13/16, and Finland's telecom giant Nokia Corp. held mild gains.
Latin American shares traded on Wall Street had a downward bias, with Mexican stocks seeing early gains evaporate amid a decline in bellwether Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex). In New York, Telemex ADRs fell 5/16 to 53-1/4, while those of media giant Grupo Televisa were off 15/16 at 63-3/16.
Brazilian telecom ADRs, which dominate Brazilian stocks listed in the U.S., were mostly flat or in negative territory, including a hefty seven-point decline in Tele Nordeste Celular to 69-1/4. In the plus column was Brazil's No. 3 private bank Unibanco , up 5/8 at 30-1/4, while other firms straddled the unchanged mark...
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