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Asian markets slide
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September 21, 2000: 5:51 a.m. ET
Oil price, profit concerns hit Tokyo, Seoul; share sale weakens Hong Kong
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Most Asian markets ended lower Thursday, hit by losses in telecom and technology stocks and lingering concerns about corporate earnings and high oil prices.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed down 0.9 percent at 16,311.05, ending a two-day rally as concern mounted that soaring oil prices and the troubled euro may weigh on U.S. blue chips.
"The uncertainty over U.S. corporate earnings is casting a shadow over global financial markets, and the Tokyo market cannot be an exception," said Masaaki Higashida, deputy general manager at Nomura Securities' investment information and services department.
 Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 3.2 percent to 15,164.45, following a 15.8 percent drop for Internet and telecom firm Pacific Century CyberWorks.
Singapore's Straits Times index ended 0.9 percent lower at 1.988.81, as tech shares weakened.
In the U.S. Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 1 percent, or 101.37 points, to close at 10,687.92. But the Nasdaq composite index advanced for its second straight day, rising 31.80, or 0.8 percent, to 3,897.44 as investors bet that technology firms would show steady revenue growth for the quarter.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar weakened against the Japanese yen, rising to ¥106.47 from ¥106.53 in New York trading late on Wednesday.
In Tokyo, Japan's dominant telephone company Nippon Telegraph & Telephone fell 3.8 percent and conglomerate Sumitomo declined 3.1 percent.
Tech stocks were among the market's healthier sectors, with consumer electronics maker Sony gaining 1.8 percent.
Internet investor Softbank surged 6.5 percent on late institutional investor buying, reversing earlier losses following news late Wednesday that the president of Nippon Credit Bank had committed suicide. A Softbank-led consortium has bought Nippon Credit Bank, which had collapsed under the weight of bad loans and was taken over by the government in December 1998. The reprivatized bank reopened its doors last month.
NEC fell 2.7 percent, failing to benefit from its announcement of two separate alliances with Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) and Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates).
The Industrial Bank of Japan, Fuji Bank and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank advanced on their last trading day before being delisted to make way for Mizuho Holdings, the entity they will form by their merger. Industrial Bank of Japan gained 4.1 percent, Fuji Bank rose 1.6 percent and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank advanced 1 percent.
Hong Kong suffers as telecoms drop
In Hong Kong, losses were across the board as investors fretted about the impact of high oil prices and the troubled euro on global stock markets. Pacific Century CyberWorks led the way down, plunging 15.8 percent as its shares resumed trading. The stock was suspended Wednesday after Cable & Wireless sold 1 billion shares, or 4.9 percent of the company, at HK$9.88 each, an 8 percent discount to PCCW's previous market price. The U.K. company has a large PCCW stake as a result of selling its Cable & Wireless HKT unit to the Hong Kong company in February in exchange for stock.
Trading in PCCW shares, including the HK$10.28 billion stock placement by Cable & Wireless, accounted for about two-thirds of the Hong Kong market's trading volume Thursday.
Elsewhere, international bank HSBC Holdings shed 0.5 percent while its affiliate Hang Seng Bank fell 0.9 percent. Property firm Cheung Kong (Holdings) lost 2.2 percent and rival SHK Properties lost nearly 3 percent. China Mobile lost 5.6 percent.
Despite the usual positive effect high oil prices have on producers, PetroChina slid 5.2 percent as some investors raised funds for the listing next month of fellow Chinese oil giant Sinopec.
 In South Korea, the Kospi index fell 1.7 percent to 595.99, dragged lower by a 4.4 percent fall in market heavyweight Samsung Electronics, while concerns about high oil prices and corporate restructuring overshadowed the market.
Taipei's Taiwan Weighted index closed up 0.6 percent at 6,920.9 on gains in the banking sector.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.1 percent to 3,252.8, as a further fall in the Australian dollar kept foreign investors away from the market.
Manila's PHS Composite index fell 0.8 percent, Jakarta's JSX index was 0.4 percent lower, and Kuala Lumpur's KLSE Composite index fell 0.4 percent. Bangkok's SET index was up nearly 0.8 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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