Techs tumble on mobiles gloom

GLOBAL telephone giants were dialling in the wrong numbers for Asian technology stocks today. Cloudy sales outlooks from US components giant Lucent and Finnish handphones leader Nokia sent technology stocks stumbling around the region.

A promise by Japan's government pension fund to pump money into the stock market this year failed to stem a second day of profit-taking, which left the Nikkei 225 down 192.02 at 11,415.31.

Similar cashing-in left other recently buoyant Asian markets mixed, while a more sober view on the possible inflow of Chinese savers' funds into the Hong Kong market pushed the Hang Seng index down 58.4 to 11,215.5.

A 10% slide in the shares of Lucent after it warned second-quarter earnings would be below forecast helped knock the Nasdaq market 1.68% overnight, and Japanese technology stocks followed. Telephone equipment manufacturers fell heavily in Tokyo. Components suppliers reeled by up to 5%, while NEC and Matsushita Communications, the two largest makers of phones, fell by around 3%.

A pledge by Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund to pump up to 1.7 trillion yen (£9.5bn) into local stocks in the next financial year failed to overcome the tech gloom. Although the move could underpin Tokyo's markets when the bears are raiding, it is not good news for the beneficiaries of the funds. In the first three quarters of the current financial year the funds' assets plunged 925bn yen as the stock market dived.

Bank shares fell as much as 7% as corporate shareholders unloaded their holdings to take advantage of recent strength.

Hong Kong's cellphone counters were downwardly mobile as investors' knees jerked on the more bearish outlook for global phone sales. China Mobile, the mainland's biggest operator of mobile services dipped 0.2%, and Hutchison Whampoa, which is heavily invested in European networks, slid by 0.5%.

The prospects of a wave of Chinese money flowing into Hong Kong receded as analysts warned that any loosening of the rules by Beijing could take months, if not years. After surging up to 3% yesterday on indications of a relaxation in the regulations banning cross-border investment, shares of the locally quoted mainland groups retreated, and lost up to a third of yesterday's advances.

Second thoughts on the outlook for technology stocks in Taiwan reversed earlier gains in the market as fears of a slowdown in mobile phone component shipments took hold and the Weighted Average lost 34.20 at 6088.34.

Bargain-hunting in South Korean banking stocks finally overcame weakness in the semiconductor counters, and the Kospi finished a see-saw session up 6.25 points at 852.28. Nasdaq's weakness depressed Singapore's chip-related stocks, while unloading of blue-chips added further pressure which took the Straits Times index down 2.1 to 1781.2.

Nervous selling of News Corp shares after its earlier rally more than cancelled out stronger bank shares in Sydney, and the All Ordinaries declined 42.1 to 3450. Thai stocks dipped despite a Merrill Lynch upgrade of the market, the SET off 6.93 to 377.81. The Kuala Lumpur Composite eased 0.43 to 753.19, but the Jakarta Composite edged up 2.12 to 471.48.

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