TOKYO -- With Tokyo markets closed Thursday, Asian markets took their cue from the performance of the
Nasdaq
and inched lower as shares of chip makers were sold off by foreigners -- but big news moved Hong Kong markets.
Hong Kong bucked the trend, with the
Hang Seng
index closing 48.44 higher at 17,758.51, after
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Report
reportedly upped its bid for U.S.'
VoiceStream Wireless
(VSTR)
. This buoyed shares of
Hutchison Whampoa
. Hutchison owns a 23% stake in VoiceStream.
The Wall Street Journal's
online edition late Wednesday posted a report that said Deutsche Telekom has now put forth a $53 billion bid, or offered $206.50 in cash for each VoiceStream share. It seems that Deutsche was threatened by a supposed bid from Japan's
NTT DoCoMo
, which is assumed to have submitted a $52 billion bid recently. Shares of Hutchison Whampoa climbed HK$2.50, or 2.1%, to 122.00 ($15.65), supporting the rest of the market, traders said. Check out
coverage from
TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com
joint newsroom.
Large-cap tech shares were mixed.
China Mobile
(CHL) - Get Report
shed 1.00, or 1.4%, to 72.00 and
Pacific Century Cyberworks
lost 0.15, or 1.0%, to 15.50.
China Unicom
(CHU) - Get Report
jumped 0.45, or 2.3%, to 20.45 after news that it closed a $190 million deal with
Motorola
(MOT)
, to jointly expand in three Chinese provinces.
The
Bank of East Asia
climbed 0.30, or 1.5%, to 20.05 as the market acted on expectations that the firm will become the first non-mainland bank to set up an Internet banking operation in China.
In other markets, Korea's
Kospi
index lost 18.40, or 2.3%, to 778.90, while Taiwan's
TWSE
index fell 192.53, or 2.3%, to 8219.53.
Shares of Korean chip makers were shed in earnest after
Merrill Lynch
said in a report that the industry had already hit its peak.
Samsung Electronics
(SSNGF)
lost KW15000, or 4.2%, to 345,000 ($310.22),
Hyundai Electronics
shed 2400, or 10.8%, to 19,800, while
SK Telecom
(SKM) - Get Report
fell 5000, or 1.3%, to 370,000.
Taiwan's tech sector was also hit by a separate Merrill report that recommended investors to hold onto chip shares.
Taiwan Semiconductor
(TSM) - Get Report
lost TD$7.00, or 4.9%, to 135.00 ($4.36), while
United Micro
shed 3.50, or 4.3%, to 78.00.
