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Tokyo, Seoul lower; oil shares zip higher

By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch

Last Update: 6/8/2008 10:35:00 PM

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Asian indexes clocked heavy losses Monday, with
blue-chip automotive and technology companies lower following a sharp sell-off in
New York Friday. Energy-related shares such as Inpex Holding were among the few
bright spots as crude-oil prices hovered near $138 a barrel.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Average was down 2.1% at 14,179.94, South Korea’s Kospi index
shed 1.9% at 1,796.87, and Singapore’s Straits Times index was off 2.3% to
3,076.15.

In other regional action, New Zealand’s NZX-50 gave up 1.4% and Malaysia’s KLSE
Composite shed 1.6%.

Markets in Australia, China, Hong Kong and the Philippines were closed for public
holidays.

Light, sweet crude oil for July delivery fell as much as $1.01 to $137.53 a
barrel in electronic trading, after climbing nearly $11 a barrel to close at
$138.54 Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Shares of Inpex Holdings (JP:1605) climbed 3.9% and commodity trader Mitsubishi
Corp (JP:8058) added 0.3%.

Mitsui & Co.(JP:8031) saw its shares climb 0.4% after the Nikkei newspaper
reported the firm and Australia’s Challenger Financial Services Group will invest
5 billion yen ($47.5 million) each into a fund that will invest in electrical
power-generating stations and other infrastructure in emerging-market economies.

Decliners included Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)(JP:7203) and Nissan Motor Corp.
(JP:7201)(NSANY), whose shares fell 3.2% and 3.8% respectively. Shares of Samsung
Electronics fell 3.2%.

In currencies, the yen was exchanged at 105.10 against the U.S. dollar, compared
to 104.85 in New York late Friday.

U.S. stock indexes finished sharply lower Friday, with weaker employment data and
the surge in crude oil prices combining to knock the Dow Jones Industrial Average
to its worst one-day decline in 15 months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
($INDU) fell 395 points, the S&P 500 ($SPX) gave up 43 points and the Nasdaq
Composite ($COMPQ) fell 75 points.

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