By Michael Kitchen
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Asian shares traded broadly lower Friday, though many markets had moved off their lows by midday, with Japan helped by renewed hopes for government action to weaken the yen and Hong Kong showing strength in some telecom and energy stocks. In early afternoon trading, the Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.2%, having traded 1% lower earlier in the day. The paring of losses came as the euro and U.S. dollar recovered ground against the yen following reports Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan would discuss the yen at a news conference later in the day. The currency move helped tech exporters, with Elpida Memory Inc. (JP:6665 1,046, +16.00, +1.55%) (ELPDF 0.00, 0.00, 0.00%) down 0.6% compared to a loss of 1.9% in the early morning, and Hitachi Ltd. (JP:6501 341.00, +4.00, +1.19%) (HIT 40.18, -0.06, -0.15%) trading 0.3% higher, after being down 1.8%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was off 0.1%, with energy major Cnooc Ltd. (HK:883 13.24, +0.18, +1.38%) (CEO 167.60, -1.07, -0.63%) up 0.5%, though PetroChina Co. (HK:857 8.44, -0.08, -0.94%) (CN:601857 10.31, +0.07, +0.68%) (PTR 108.32, -0.18, -0.17%) was down 1.1% after disappointing earnings. China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. (HK:762 10.56, +0.22, +2.13%) (CHU 13.67, +0.08, +0.59%) rose 2.7% after a positive earnings forecast from Credit Suisse, but Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (HK:13 58.80, -0.50, -0.84%) (HUWHY 37.70, -1.19, -3.06%) gave up 1%. Elsewhere in Asia, the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.3%, Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%, Seoul's Kopsi fell 0.1%, and Mumbai's Sensex and S&P/CNX Nifty were each lower by 0.2%. |
