Asia: Auto stocks weigh

Tue 5 Aug 2008
LONDON (ShareCast) - Asian stocks were down, tracking the losses posted on Wall Street last week, while auto stocks continued to weigh.

Nissan added to the auto sector gloom after posting a 46% fall in quarterly operating profit as sales were hit by the falling number of large vehicles sold in the US.

Meanwhile, Yamaha Corp (Frankfurt: 855314) slid following a broker downgrade from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) , which reduced the musical instrument maker's rating to "sell" from "neutral" after the group reduced its first half outlook.

Trading house Mitsui & Co saw profits slump 43% in the opening quarter and kept its below-forecast full-year net profit guidance.

In Honk Kong, bank HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA.L) was slightly lower ahead of the release of its first half earnings later today.

Refiner Sinopec Corp was also lower despite rumours of a counter-bid for UK's Russia-focused oil producer Imperial Energy (LSE: IEC.L) , which is already mulling another offer.

Across the markets, the Nikkei (news) fell 161 points to 12,933 with the Hang Seng (news) slumping 347 points to 22,541.

Source: http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/080804/214/i4b0l.html
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