Asia watch

TOKYO shares slid in sympathy with the yen, while the currency's fall to a three-year low unsettled some other Asian markets on fears of losing export markets to cheaper Japanese goods. The exceptions were technology stocks, as chipmakers in

At one point the yen had weakened to 128 to the dollar before it recovered slightly to 127.85 against Friday's New York level of 127.29. The Nikkei 225 Average reflected growing gloom over the economy, and lost 188.3 points to close at 10,323.36.

It wasn't all downhill, however, as investors moved in on selected exporters whose sales and repatriated profits will benefit from the weaker yen.

Other sectors were unsettled by the continuing slide against the US dollar, as it was perceived as yet more evidence of the poor state of the Japanese economy. Once again the banks were in the front line, and the country's largest lender, Mizuho Holdings, tumbled 3% to a record low. Analysts and investors sense that the next crunch for the banks cannot be far away, following figures last week showing bankruptcies in October were back up to 1984 levels. Insolvencies among small and medium-sized firms have risen sharply, while the banking system continues to be rocked by major corporate failures.

The gloom over banks spread to stockbrokers, but the sector also produced the day's big winner when Nomura Research Institute, the software and analytical service side of the broking giant, made its market debut at a 35% premium over the offer price.

Rises in South Korea's chipmakers, after Samsung and Hynix announced they had raised semiconductor prices for the second time in a month, failed to offset the impact of the falling yen on the country's exporters. In its third straight day of falls, the Kospi index lost a further 2.3%, down 15.21 points to 649.99. Consumer electrical goods giant LG slumped more than 6% while shares in the Hyundai motor giant dropped almost 3%.

In dwindling pre-holiday turnover, Hong Kong stocks staged a late-morning rally that wiped out early losses and left the Hang Seng index ahead 107.52 points at 11,573.6. Blue-chips led the gains as investors took modest bets on a repeat of the market's traditional year- end rally, and HSBC Holdings reversed some of its recent dive of 5%, rallying 1.3% to HK$94.50.

Taiwan stocks dithered as investors continued to bank recent profits in tech stocks, and the Weighted Average dropped by 20.58 points to 5456.15. Investors in Sydney were more intent on booking tables for Christmas parties than booking orders for stocks, but the All Ordinaries index gained 51.9 points to 3289.6. What excitement there was surrounded Normandy Mining, which is being battled over by Anglogold of South Africa and Newmont Mining of the US. Today it gained a further 3% as buyers sensed more action after Normandy directors turned down Anglogold's latest offer.

Thailand's SET index edged up 1.46 points to 295.46 while markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia were closed for public holidays marking the end of Ramadan.

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.