Asia watch

Even another fall in the yen to three-year lows failed to motivate buyers of exporters, and the Nikkei 225 Average tumbled 2.2%, or 229.27 to 10,050.98, led by major electronics component makers and suppliers. US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said in Tokyo that Washington had no concerns about the currency's decline against the US dollar. Today it fell to 133.56 compared with an overnight level of 132.64.

Fears that the China mobile phone industry's stunning expansion is slowing hammered the locally-quoted mainland operators in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index fell 202.6 to 10,797.7. Warnings by Hong Kong analysts that the growth in China's mobile phone subscriptions is coming to an end added to the gloom over increased competition and stocks of China Unicom and China Mobile slid 2.5%.

Bank stocks took over the running in South Korea after good results from Chohung Bank reinforced convictions that the once-struggling sector was heading for a second year of record earnings. Gains among top lenders reached 8% as investors identified the sector as the next big growth area, and the Kospi responded with a 5.68-points gain to 723.03.

Taiwanese investors were dismayed at the numbers rung up by local mobile phone groups in their bids for 3G licences, and telecoms stocks fell by up to 1.5%. The Weighted Average was rescued by growing optimism about links between Hynix Semiconductor and the US Micron giant, and as chip stocks gained as much as 6% the Weighted Average rose 24.24 points to 5822.29.

Singapore's Straits Times index fell 8.3 points to 1663.2. But banking counters rallied on hopes that an economic upturn will rebuild earnings, while technology stocks were led higher by Soundblaster computer card maker Creative Technology, which rose almost 2% on hopes that earnings figures this week will outpace predictions and that bbetter US sales will add momentum to the whole sector.

Australian resources stocks ascended on a wave of rumours and rumours of rumours of more takeover bids in the sector now that the Normandy Mining battle is over. A 1.2% gain in the resources index translated into a 78.8-points advance to 3421.5 in the All Ordinaries, which was further boosted by an end to the recent long slide in News Corp shares. Top takeover tip was Newcrest Mining, which jumped 4.5% on hopes that AngloGold would bid after losing the battle for Normandy. Other resources stocks, led by BHP Billiton, rose on the expected 4.2% reduction in Opec's oil output. Bargain-hunting brought some relief for News Corp stocks after its recent battering on US earnings worries and it rose 1.5%.

A recent fall in Thai stocks was ended by a cut in interest rates, which lifted bank stocks and took the SET index up 2.92 to 317.30. Weak telecoms stocks pulled the Composite index in Kuala Lumpur down 4.91 points to 691.03. The Jakarta Composite edged up 2.37 to 428.52.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.