The bears ran loose in Asian streets Friday, ending a downbeat week, with tech stocks under pressure in Japan as Sony forecast its first annual loss in 14 years.
Selling pressure in Tokyo was aggravated as the Japanese currency advanced to its strongest level against the dollar since 1995, making the prices of exports more expensive.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 Index closed down 306.49 points 3.8% at 7,745.25, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ended down 79.39, or 0.6%, to 12, 578.60
Samsung Electronics was among the day's biggest decliners after the South Korean electronics giant reported its first-ever quarterly loss for the three months through Dec. 31.
Market watchers detected a risk-averse mood as investors weighed up the latest batch of grim economic data pointing to a weaker growth in China and slumping Japanese exports.
Many investors chose to pare down positions in the event of profit warnings or other negative news during the Lunar New Year holiday, which sees many Asian markets closed Monday and Tuesday.
U.S. stock futures were mildly lower in screen trade with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures falling 25 points.
In Japan, consumer electronic giant Sony fell 7% after saying Thursday it expects a net loss of 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 31, battered by the global economic slowdown. As recently as October, the firm had forecast a net profit of 150 billion yen.
Shares of Canon lost 5.2%. Samsung's results hurt the Korean market with its shares down 4.4% and LG Electronics falling 3.2%.
The world's largest maker of computer memory chips reported a fourth-quarter loss of 22.2 billion won ($16 million U.S.) with weakness in its chip and liquid crystal display segments, though it expected the global LCD market to recover in the second half of this year. A Dow Jones Newswires poll had predicted a 38.6-billion-won net profit.
Asian stocks were also following the weaker finish in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which ended 1.3% lower Thursday, hurt by weak earnings from Microsoft and news the software maker plans to cut 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, the software giant's first major round of layoffs in its history.
Shares of Toyota were down 1.6% after Japan media reported the vehicle maker is considering cutting 1,000 jobs at plants in the U.K and U.S.
In Australia, Babcock & Brown said it saw no value for equity holders under its revised business plan and restructured balance sheet. Heavyweight miner BHP Billiton was down 5.8% and News Corp. was down 7.8%.
The Hong Kong market was supported by a 0.8% gain in shares of HSBC, as traders exited short positions -- bets on the company's share price would fall further -- after a recent string of large declines.
Oil and gas refiner Sinopec fell 3%, with both companies saying they expected 2008 profits to fall more than 50%.
Singaporean shares were in negative territory after the government Thursday unveiled a record 20.5 billion Singapore dollar ($13.7 billion U.S.) stimulus package, equivalent to 8% of GDP.
Decliners also included Nippon Steel Corp, shares of which fell 5% after Japanese media reported the company plans to slash steel output this quarter by about 40%, taking its total cuts to four million tons for the half-year to March 31.
Elsewhere:
China's Shanghai Composite fell 11.87 points, or 0.6% to 2,032.68
Singapore's Straits Times index was off 23.54 points, or 1.4%, to 1,685.23
Korea's Kospi Composite was off 22.83 points, or 2.1%, at 1,093.40
New Zealand shares were down 29.32 points, or 1.1%, at 2,705.09
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 finished 144.10 points, or 4.1%, lower at 3,342.70
Markets in Taiwan were closed for a public holiday.
