Words but no action pushes Nikkei down

FINE words but no deeds left Japanese investors disappointed today, following the summit meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and US President George Bush.

Other Asian markets drifted as investors backed off after recent strong rallies. Bush today praised Koizumi to the Japanese parliament, but with no announcement of concrete plans for crucial economic reforms the Nikkei 225 plunged back through 10000 with a fall of 246.09 points to 9.847.16 at the close.

Bush called for a restoration of economic growth through tax cuts, prompt disposal of bad loans and accelerated deregulation, but there was no sign of any real action from Japanese politicians. Bank shares were hit as a result.

As time runs out before the big banks unveil full-year profits - and debt provisions - next month, Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank, led the slide with a 6% slump. Japan's financial services sector suffered another blow as Moody's Investors Services downgraded the ratings of stockbrokers Daiwa Securities and Nikko Cordial to junk-bond level.

Shares in Sony rose after reports that profits will double next year after heavy cost-cutting and good sales of its Play-Station 2 games console.

Fears that Hong Kong's sluggish economic performance will cut the profits of banks helped bring the Hang Seng index down 157.44 points to 10,845.37 as investors took the proceeds of five days of gains.

Worries that South Korea's recent boom has outrun reality dried up institutional buying, leaving the Kospi index down 5.8 points at 784.57.

The fall was softened by a 5% acceleration in the shares of Kia Motors following a 67% jump in its full-year profits. Hynix Semiconductor tumbled more than 4% as investors fretted about the lack of progress in talks with US chipmaker Micron.

A similar attack of vertigo pushed Taiwan's Weighted Average index back from 6000 as investors worried that its rise of more than 70% since 11 September had taken prices too high.

The index dropped 108.2 points to 5860.41, led down by electronics stocks which have provided much of the juice in the market's heady rally. United Microelectronics, hit by withdrawal from a joint-venture deal by Japanese giant Hitachi, fell 3.5%.

Sydney stocks drifted as earnings doubts kept investors at bay. Falls in market leaders News Corporation and BHP Billiton combined with profit-taking in bid counters to take the All Ordinaries index down by 1.3 points to 3414.1. There were sharp reverses of yesterday's gains in Australian Pharmaceutical Industries and Sigma, which had been triggered by merger talks. Poor results from Singapore's leading bank, DBS Group, put a question mark over earnings of the sector, and the Straits Times index fell 21.58 points to 1739.16. DBS shares fell almost 1.5% after the company posted a 28% drop in profits for 2000.

Malaysian carmaker Proton soared 12% after revealing record profits, and as bank shares gained on economic recovery hopes the Kuala Lumpur Composite put on four points at 725.13. Easing interest rates lifted stocks in Thailand, where the SET index added 3.16 points to 378.79. In Indonesia the Jakarta Composite slipped 3.22 points to 459.13.

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.