Asia Markets-Japan taking a NOSEDIVE:
Nikkei falls 2.8% on profit jitters, yen
HK, Taipei, Seoul also slip despite Wall St. recovery
By Mariko Ando, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 5:15 AM ET Sep 3, 2001
TOKYO (CBS.MW) - Japanese electronics giant Hitachi plunged 10 percent Monday as the company's drastic restructuring plan failed to impress investors. Its losses, along with corporate-earnings jitters and the yen's recent appreciation, helped send the Nikkei down nearly 3 percent to its lowest level in 17 years.
Hitachi (HIT) (6501) plunged by its daily limit of 100 yen, or 10.3 percent, to 874 yen. The company said last Friday said it will cut 14,700 jobs, and expects to post a group net loss of 140 billion yen in the fiscal year ending next March. See full story.
The Nikkei Average sank for a fifth straight day, falling another 2.84 percent, or 303.83 points, to 10,409.68 -- its lowest finish since August 1984.
The broader Topix tumbled 2.89 percent to 1,071.73.
"Hitachi's job cut is considered 'not enough' for the market, plus there are many other negative factors for technology shares such as the yen's appreciation and a wave of economic data this week. Since the Nikkei has breached the 10,500 mark, we now have to eye the 10,000 mark as the next support level," said Noboru Saruya, equity information manager at Shinko Securities.
The dollar was trading at 118.85 yen by late afternoon Tokyo, against 118.80 yen late Friday in New York, where it sank as low as 118.50 yen. The U.S. currency has fallen about 5 percent against the yen over the past month.
U.S. markets will be closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday. Market players were anxiously awaiting U.S. productivity data on Thursday and unemployment rate data on Friday. Japan's April-June GDP data is due out Friday.
In Tokyo, Nikon (7731) (NINOY) dived 13.8 percent to 912 yen after the company said it will cut its earnings forecast. Nikon is scheduled to meet the press after the market closes to discuss details.
Sanyo Electric (SANYY) (6764) tumbled 6.7 percent to 499 yen. The company last Friday cut its annual profit forecast by 56.4 percent to 8.5 trillion yen, citing sluggish demand for information technology-related products.
Technology bellwether Sony (SNE) (6758) lost 4.4 percent to 5,060 yen, while Furukawa Electric (FUWAY) (5801) sank 6.3 percent to 840 yen. Toshiba (6502) also lost 4.4 percent to 582 yen.
Automakers were also hit by the yen's recent strength. Honda (HMC) (7267) fell 3.3 percent to 4,150 yen, while Nissan (7201) tumbled 6.2 percent to 651 yen.
HK, Seoul, Taipei all fall
Other markets in the region also faltered as Wall Street's recovery last Friday wasn't able to cheer up sentiment.
Hong Kong stocks tumbled on weaker-than-expected economic data. The Hang Seng index lost 1.69 percent, or 187.84 points, to close at 10,902.64, adding to Friday's 2 percent tumble. The index ended below the 11,000 mark for the first time since March 1999.
The government said after the market closed Friday that GDP growth slowed to 0.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter from 2.3 percent growth in the previous quarter. The figure was also below the forecast of 1.4 percent growth, according to a Reuters poll.
China Mobile (CHL) (0941) led decliners, dropping 7.2 percent to 22.60 Hong Kong dollars.
Rival China Unicom (CHU) (0762) lost 8.2 percent to HK$8.95. Unicom, China's No.2 telecom firm, said it has 20.89 million mobile phone subscribers as of July 20, up 3.4 percent from a month earlier.
Port-to-telecom conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa (HUWHY) (0013) fell 0.4 percent to HK$66.25 , while Legend Holdings (LGHLY) (0992), China's largest personal computer maker, lost 3.4 percent to HK$3.575.
South Korea's Kospi closed down 0.6 percent at 541.83 points. Samsung Electronics dropped 1.1 percent to 188,000 won and Korea Telecom (KTC) lost a percent to 50,500 won.
Hynix Semiconductor jumped 3.6 percent to 800 won. Creditors of the ailing chipmaker are expected to meet Monday to discuss a 5-trillion won rescue plan. But creditors will need 2 or 3 days to decide whether to support a rescue of the world's third largest memory chip maker, said Reuters.
In Taiwan, the benchmark Weighted Index lost 1.21 percent to close at 4,454.77 points.
United Microelectronics (UMC) lost half a percent to 39.60 Taiwan dollars. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) closed unchanged at T$64.00. The Taiwanese cabinet's development fund, which owns 12 percent of TSM, may issue ADRs of TSM in the second half, according to a Commercial Times report.
Australia's All Ordinaries Index closed down 0.06 percent at 3,215.90, led lower by a 13 percent tumble in shares of National Australia Bank.
NAB, Australia's largest bank, fell to 28.90 Australian dollars after it announced earlier in the day that it will write down the value of its U.S. subsidiary HomeSide Lending by A$3.3 billion ($1.75 billion).
New Zealand's NZ Top 40 fell 0.85 percent to close at 2,042.21. Telecom NZ (NZT) dropped 2 percent to 4.95 New Zealand dollars after going ex-dividend.
Singapore's Straits Times Index gave up 0.22 percent to 1,615.51, while Malaysia's KLSE Composite advanced 0.48 percent to 690.45 points. Malaysia's stock market was closed Friday for a national holiday.
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