Asian stocks end week with a thud


Taiwan's chip foundries fell hard and Singapore's Chartered got little boost despite a slimmer loss than forecast

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Asian stocks ended the week with a thud on Friday. Japan fell the hardest, having gained the most the day before.

The tech-fueled Nikkei index slumped 2.82 percent to 10,202.36, feeling another sag in Sony's stock.

The broad market declined on big caps and brokerages. The Topix broke below 1,000 again, falling 2.02 percent to 989.71.

South Korea fell almost 2.5 percent, with Samsung taking Sony's path down. Taiwan, Australia and Hong Kong all fell a little over 1 percent. Singare closed 1.25 percent lower.

Gainers were hard to find in Asia, with only China's B shares and smaller markets like the Philippines and Sri Lanka trading in positive territory.

Sony gives Tokyo a knock

In Japan, Sony closed off 4.66 percent to 5,530 yen. It gets two-thirds of its sales outside of Japan, leaning particularly heavily on the United States as a market.


Japan is counting on exports to ease its economic woes, which have left the jobless rate near a record high

Japanese investors appear to have shaken off doubts about the company generated by a report on its accounting practices.

Sony, typically regarded as one of Japan's most transparent companies, denies that its accounting methods are flawed.

Brokerage Nomura Holdings dipped 5.25 percent to 1,715 yen. The depressed stock markets hint at lower trading volumes and trading gains.

Drug maker Takeda Chemical Industries fell 1.84 percent to 4,810 yen despite the rising need for pharmaceuticals with an aging population. Investors are concerned about stiffening competition.

Samsung sales produce Seoul selloff

South Korea's Kospi index sold off sharply after a fall on Wall Street on Thursday. The Dow was off 1.56 percent and Nasdaq lost almost 2.9 percent. The S&P 500 hit a five-year low.


Samsung posted record figures for the second quarter but investors took that as time to sell

Seoul's main index fell 2.48 percent to 754.62 on Friday. Samsung Electronics fell 4.34 percent to 341,500 won.

The world's largest memory chipmaker and Korea's largest consumer electronics company came in with record second-quarter earnings, which investors took as time to sell.

Cell-phone service SK Telecom, another foreign-fund favorite, fell 3.6 percent to 255,500 won.

But Korea's leading carmaker Hyundai Motor rose 2.4 percent to 32,500, with currencies less of a factor than earnings on Friday.

Currencies not a heavy factor

The yen eased in Asian trade and stands at 115.88 to the U.S. dollar in early London trade. But the Korean won stands essentially pat at 1,170.5 at the close of Seoul trade.

In Taipei, the main Taiwanese index closed down 1.53 percent. The Taiex now stands at 5,161.92.

Chip foundry stocks such as TSMC and UMC ended sharply lower.

Their smaller Singaporean rival Chartered Semiconductor came in with a loss after the Wall Street close on Thursday that some analysts considered disappointing.

Australia off, New Zealand steady

Australian stocks closed lower, leaving the S&P/ASX 200 index down 1.37 percent to 3,109.2 -- a nine-month low.

News Corp. closed 2.3 percent lower at A$9.80, forming a heavy undercurrent on the market.

Mining stocks provided a little respite. BHP Billiton climbed 1.3 percent to A$9.90. Rio Tinto rose 1.4 percent to A$34.48.

New Zealand's Top 40 held up better than most Asia Pacific indexes. It ended down 0.25 percent to 2,047.06.

Exporters down in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, major exporters closed lower, particularly if they look to the United States for sales.

The Hang Seng ended down 1.22 percent at 10,325.46.

Trading house Li & Fung dropped 4.71 percent to HK$9.00. Johnson Electric dropped 3.7 percent to HK$7.90.

China Mobile fell 1.54 percent to HK$22.35.

The overall market was dragged lower by a decline in bank stock HSBC. It fell 0.85 percent to HK$88.00.

In Singapore, Chartered Semiconductor dropped 2.3 percent to S$3.48 by the close of trade. The market took little encouragement from its renewal of sales forecasts for the year(Full Story)

The Straits Times index closed off 1.25 percent at 1,560.18.