By Laura He, MarketWatch
Hong Kong stocks pull back as telecoms weaker
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Tracking substantial losses in the
U.S. overnight, Japan stocks on Wednesday logged a five-day losing
streak, leading a downward regional trend.
The Nikkei Average Index ended down 1.1%, while the yen (USDJPY)
strengthened against the greenback, trading at Yen102.516 from
Yen102.608 in the prior session. The broader Topix index finished
1% lower.
Internet and telecoms conglomerate SoftBank Corp. tumbled 3.5%,
after its Sprint unit (S) dropped a pursuit of T-Mobile U.S. (TMUS)
, according to various media reports.
Other market movers included Sony Corp. , down 2%, IT services
provider Fujitsu , off 1.9%, electronics giant Sharp Corp., off
1.6%, and semiconductor company Renesas Electronics Corp. , which
lost 1.4%.
In other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index pulled back
0.3%. Telecoms operator China Unicom (Hong Kong) slid 5.3% ahead of
its first-half earnings due later this week. Rivals China Telecom
Corp. and China Mobile lost 2.1% and 1.3% respectively.
Elsewhere, both Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 and the Shanghai
Composite Index inched down 0.1%. Seoul's Kospi Composite Index
gave up 0.3%, while Taiwan's Taiex closed flat.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Microsoft tries to ease pain of China layoffs with free
phones
China to 'punish' Chrysler, Audi for monopoly
Almost all Chinese cities fail on air quality
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires