DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Stocks in Tokyo and Hong Kong fell slightly overnight on the heels of the drop yesterday in New York.</s>DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Dalton Tanonaka sums up the day for us in Asian trading from our studios in Hong Kong. Hi, Dalton.</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, David. Hi, Deb. Asia's biggest market did slip, Tokyo's Nikkei down nearly a quarter percent. Tech and telecom stocks under pressure because of the Nasdaq's weakness and WorldCom's growth warning. Sony losing nearly three percent, while NTT fell one percent. Politics also played a part on this last trading day of the week in Tokyo, markets there closed Friday for a holiday. The latest public opinion poll shows Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's popularity rating below 20 percent. Iran's visiting President Khatami reached a major oil deal in Tokyo and Japan will gain preferential access to the world's largest undeveloped oil field in Iran. A losing day in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng reversing course to close a third of a percent lower. The WorldCom warning hurt telecom stocks there, such as China Mobile and Pacific Century CyberWorks. Taiwan emerged as the region's biggest gainer. The injection of government funds halted an early slide, propelling the benchmark Taiex to close 3-3/4 percent higher. And that is the trading and business day here in Asia. Back to you, David and Deb, in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, Dalton, thank you.
Tech and Telecom Stocks Drive Down Asian Markets