Asia Stocks Mixed, Nikkei Down

Hong Kong and Australian stocks were up, but China stocks fell sharply in the morning session due to severe winter storms. ZHANG: Asia stocks were mixed on Friday, as concerns eased over the financial health of top bond issuers in the U.S. who had been hit by the subprime mortgage crisis. Japan's Nikkei edged lower (decrease 0.7% to 13497 points) amid fears of poor U.S. jobs data later in the day. A lower profit forecast by electronics giant Sony also weighed on the market, its shares falling over 8 percent. Analysts say a weakening U.S. economy and a stronger yen could hurt profits of the maker of PlayStation 3 video game consoles. China stocks fell sharply in the morning session, as severe winter storms continued to cloud the economic outlook and hit transport networks across the country. PetroChina fell over four percent, dragging down the index. Elsewhere in Asia, markets rose slightly after one of the worst months on record. Recently battered Australian stocks were up 3.4 percent, as investors shopped for cheap bank and property stocks. Shares of mining firm BHP rose ahead of an anticipated new bid for peer firm Rio Tinto next week. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index rose 2.9 percent, reacting to yesterday's gains on Wall Street, and as investors went bargain hunting. Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan gained 2 percent, while South Korea edged up by 0.6 percent.

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YouTube | February 4, 2008

Tags:. .due. .across. .winter. .hurt. .friday