8:30AM Asian markets finish lower Friday with Tokyo leading decliners, while Shanghai gains.

Asian markets ended lower on Friday. Japan''s Nikkei 225 index fell 274.29 points, or 1.52%, to finish at 17,779.09. Decliners included Nippon Steel, which lost 1.6%, and Fanuc, which also shed 1.6%.

In China, banks and property stocks declined on concerns of another interest-rate hike, but the market managed to advanced for the fourth session in a row. The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both Class A and B shares, settled up 0.6% at 3,914.18, while the smaller, Shenzhen Composite Index, rose 1.6% to 1,145.22.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, finished also down 25.76 points, or 1.5%, at 1,727.28, finishing the week 0.6% higher. On Friday, investors took profits in Daewoo Engineering & Construction, which declined 5.4% and Hyundai Heavy Industries which shed 4.7%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index shed 1.4% to end at 20,509.15, while Australian benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.3% at 6,231.7 and the Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange dipped 0.7% to settle at 8,300.71.


8:00AM Kellwood posted Q1 earnings drop, named a new CEO.

Kellwood Company (KWD) reported Q1 net income decline to $7.4 million, or 28 cents a share, down from $9.2 million, or 36 cents a share a year ago. The quarterly earnings missed analyst expectations of 20 cents a share. The retailing company said sales increased to $494 million from $484 million. Earnings from continuing operations rose to 23 cents a share, compared to 4 cents a share last year. Kellwood projected Q2 net income in the range of 37 to 39 cents a share. The company also named Gregory W. Kleffner as CEO and said board member Robert Baer Kellwood retired.

7:30AM NY-6:30PM Mumbai Sensex declines sharply Friday in a volatile trading.

The Sensex on BSE finished Friday 122.37 points lower, or 0.86%, at 14,063.81.

The market-breadth was negative as there were more than three decliners for every two advancers. For 957 stocks which advanced, 1,464 stocks declined and only 74 stocks remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, only five advanced, while all the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,592 crore, compared with 4,289 crore on Thursday. On NSE, the turnover was Rs 10,577.41 crore, higher than Rs 9,092 crore on Thursday.

Economic news

The wholesale price index in India advanced 4.85% in the period up to May 26 2007, lower than 5.06%, the previous week and also lower than the predicted 5.05%.

The Indian rupee continued its downward trend and lost against the dollar on Friday. The partially convertible rupee stood at 41.01 in early afternoon it had settled at 40.74 a day ago.

The government may not sell the Dabhol power plant LNG receipt facility. The government controlled, NTPC has been asked to invest Rs 500 crore to save the project from collapsing and pay contractors.

Trading highlights

Reliance Industries was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 187.70 crore followed by Nitin Fire and Infosys.

Advancers

Hindalco and Satyam surged almost 3% each to Rs 158 and Rs 495, respectively. Hindalco gained for the third day in a row on speculation that Alcan may combine with Sterlite Industries to bid for Hindalco.