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Japan takes a breather
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian stocks closed mainly lower Monday, with Japan giving back some of last week's gains after weaker U.S. consumer sentiment data and Friday's fall on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 average, which finished Friday at a six-month closing high of 8980.64, lost 1.57 percent to end at 8839.83. The broader Topix index finished 1.0 percent lower at 872.53. There were falls of more than 1 percent for South Korea and Singapore. But Australia recovered from a shaky start to finish at a fresh nine-month high of 3090.1, up 0.08 percent. Taiwan's market likewise climbed out of the red, to close with a gain of 0.21 percent. Hong Kong closed 0.07 percent higher and New Zealand put on 0.9 percent. The moves in Asia follow a fall on Wall Street, where preliminary June data from a University of Michigan survey showed weaker consumer sentiment. (Full story) Japanese tech-related stocks were broadly lower, with falls of 4.6 percent for NEC, and more than 3 percent each for Fujitsu, Toshiba and Hitachi. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, was down 1.87 percent to 262,000 yen and rival KDDI was off 4.2 percent to 456,000 yen. Sony, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, slipped 3.16 percent to 3370 yen. In London on Monday, Sony Music announced it would allow online music downloads in the UK. (Full story) Japanese big banks were in the red, with UFJ losing 4 percent to 144,000 yen and SMFG dropping 3.3 percent to 261,000 yen. Automakers were also lower, with Toyota off 1.3 percent and Honda down 2.6 percent. Among industrials, Nippon Steel was down 4.5 percent to 147 yen. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, a likely participant in the Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner project, ended unchanged at 108 yen. (Full story) Kirin Brewery went against the trend, up 2.67 percent to 847 yen. Utility TEPCO rose 2.12 percent to 2410 yen after a gas supply project in the Timor Sea was approved. (Full story) In South Korea, the Kospi finished 1.12 percent lower at 657.82. SK Telecom was down 2.26 percent to 194,500 won after the board of SK Group member SK Corp approved a $713 million bailout for embattled trading arm SK Global. (Full story) Samsung Electronics, the market's biggest stock, ended 2.71 percent lower at 341,000 yen. Chohung Bank was up 5 percent to 4260 won after the government said it would push ahead with the sale of its 80 percent stake in the bank, despite union opposition. Shinhan Financial Group, the preferred bidder for Chohung, rose 0.77 percent to 13,050 won. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was flat, finishing up 0.08 percent to 3090.1. That was still enough to set a nine-month high. There were falls of 1.5 percent for News Corp, 0.66 percent for Telstra and 0.55 percent for BHP Billiton. But these were offset by good gains among banks and other financial stocks. CBA rose 1.15 percent and AMP put on 1.75 percent to A$5.22. Oil and gas developer Santos was up 1.44 percent to A$5.65 after a deal on Timor Sea gas got the go-ahead at the weekend. Singapore's Straits Times index is 1.2 percent lower at 1461.53 near the close, retreating from last week's nine-month highs. SingTel is down 1.9 percent to S$1.55 and there are falls of about 1 percent each for DBS and Singapore Airlines. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ended up 0.07 percent to 9862.28. There were slight gains for conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, while banking leader HSBC ended flat at HK$95.25. PCCW was down 1 percent at HK$5.05 and China Mobile rose 0.8 percent to HK$19.10. Taiwan's Taiex closed up 0.2 percent to 4892.36, with a fall of 1.75 percent for market leader TSMC to T$56.00. Rival chip foundry UMC was down 0.86 percent to T$23.00. In New Zealand, the Top 50 index closed 0.9 percent higher at 2140.51. Of the market's top two stocks, Telecom NZ was flat at NZ$5.10 and building products group Carter Holt Harvey jumped 4.24 percent to NZ$1.72.
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