
Asian Markets Update: Stocks Give Back Gains in Advance of Nasdaq's Opening
HONG KONG -- Stocks were little changed or slightly lower in much of Asia Tuesday, giving up modest gains made earlier in the day as traders again cast an eye on the
Nasdaq,
back in business later today, for guidance on the future of technology stocks.
Japan's key
Nikkei 225
index fell 16.54 points or 0.1% to 16,228.90, while the
Topix
index, which includes all shares listed on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange's
first section, lost 6.57 or 0.4% to 1518.43. The
Jasdaq
small-cap index gained 1.59 or 1.9% to 84.93, and the Nikkei
over-the-counter
index climbed 12.56 to 1729.93.
Mobile phone company
NTT DoCoMo
(NMCNY)
fell 150,000 or 5.3% to 2.7 million, after the
Nihon Kezai Shimbun
reported today that DoCoMo would likely buy as much as 20% of U.S. company
VoiceStream Wireless
(VSTR)
. DoCoMo will pay for the purchase after issuing a trillion new shares, the paper said. DoCoMo's parent,
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
(NTT)
fell 20,000 or 1.6% to 1.24 million.
The market was initially helped by data releases showing that unemployment fell a tenth of a point to 4.8% last month, its first decline in seven months, against expectations that the rate would rise. But the number of employed in April declined from a year earlier for the fifth straight month, and the number of permanent employees fell for the 28th straight month: that means that while Japan may be restructuring, the news is not being seen as immediately bullish for stocks overall.
New statistics also showed that
spending by salaried workers
rose 6.7% year on year, providing some hope that the recent, steadfast reluctance of Japanese consumers to spend their money could be coming to an end.
Sony
(SNE) - Get Report
fell 130 yen or 1.3% to 9970.
Matsushita Electric Industrial
(MC) - Get Report
rose 35 to 2530, and
Canon
(CANNY)
fell 40 or 0.8% to 4730.
Softbank
fell 270 or 1.5% to 18,020, but
Kyocera
(KYO)
rose 510 or 3% to 17,200.
After a 42-minute failure of the Hong Kong exchange's automatic trading system, but no delay in the expiry of May futures, the benchmark
Hang Seng
index rose 15.83 points, or 0.1% to 13,990.90. Among the big stocks that rose were
China Telecom,
(CHL) - Get Report
up HK$0.25 or 0.5% to 52.50. Property and holding company
Cheung Kong
(CHEUY)
fell 0.50 or 0.4% to 70.00, while its affiliate,
Hutchison Whampoa
(HUWHY)
lost 0.50 or 0.6% to 82.75.
Pacific Century CyberWorks
rose 0.35 or 2.5% to 14.40.
The
Hang Seng China Affiliated Enterprises
index, which tracks mainland-owned but Hong Kong-incorporated companies, fell 2.6%. Computer maker
Legend
(LGHLY)
fell 0.20 or 2.6% to 7.45.
Korea's
Kospi
index rose 35.33 points, or 5.4%, to 691.26.
Samsung Electronics
, a favorite among foreign fund managers, was up 17,000 won, or 6.3%, to 290,000.
SK Telecom
(SKM) - Get Report
rose 6000, or 1.8%, to 343,000.
Hyundai
rose 15%, the same proportion as the two subsidiaries that were revealed last week to be suffering from a temporary cash shortage. Hyundai said at the time that this didn¿t mean the group was in financial trouble. The market was cheered after
Standard & Poor¿s
reaffirmed Hyundai Motors¿ B+ rating, a sign that the group may not bail out troubled parts of the corporate empire.
Taiwan's
TWSE
index rose 176.17 points to 8764.42.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
(TSM) - Get Report
rose NT$5.50 or 3.8% at 151.00.
In currency trading, the dollar was slightly weaker. It recently bought 106.885 yen.