Financial stocks declined on profit taking. China Life fell 1.09 % to HK$31.90 and China Construction Bank shed 1.94% to HK$6.08.

Shipping lines fell on speculation the global economic growth is slowing. China Shipping Development lost 5.33% to HK$21.30 and China Shipping Container Lines slipped 4.27% at HK$3.14.

Realty and mining stocks traded lower ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays. New World Development declined 5.34% to HK$22.15 and Cheung Kong slid 2.07% to HK$123.30.

Also of Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd edged down 2.76 % to HK$15.48.

UBS reported yesterday that the telecommunications were unlikely to be highly profitable in the short-term as a restructure in the industry was likely to delay the launch of third generation mobile services. China Telecom dropped 0.5% and China Netcom shed 3.35% as a result.

Retailer Li & Fung, which relies on North America for its products, shed 5.21% at HK$29.10 on the economic worries in the U.S.

Sinopec gained 2.13% to HK$9.59 after crude oil for March delivery climbed down 0.9% to $89.60 per barrel.


5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo – Weaker than expected corporate earnings dragged market index lower. Toyota, Sanyo Electric, Yamaha Motor, and Mitsubishi Estates reported earnings.


Stocks in Japan traded in negative territory on weaker corporate results announced to the market.

Market Sentiment

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 declined 0.82% or 114.2 to 13,745.50 while the broader Topix Index fell 0.7% or 9.24% to 106.97.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 9.5 billion shares worth 1.1 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 516 billion shares valued at 4.8 billion yen changed hands.

Earnings News

Toyota Motor Corp reported today that third quarter net income rose 7.5%n to 458 billion yen from 426 billion yen a year ago and forecasted that full-year net revenues will climb 6.5% to 25 trillion yen. Net income is also projected to rise 3.4% to 1.7 trillion yen. Toyota stock fell as much as 4.8% in the late afternoon trading.

Yamaha Motor Corp announced today that its net sales for the fiscal year ending December 31 rose 11% to 1.7 trillion yen, while operating income increased by 2.8% to 126 billion yen from 123 billion yen a year ago.

The net income however fell 7.8% to 71.2 billion from 77.2 billion a year earlier. Yamaha forecasts that for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2008 will plunge 17.2% to 59 billion yen. The stock closed down 0.23%.

Mitsubishi Rayon Co declined after the company slashed its annual profit target by 30%. Sumitomo Chemical Co said it had only achieved 63% of its full year operating profit target.

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