DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to get a look at the Asian markets, which were effected by Sun Microsystems. Dalton Tanonaka is standing by in Hong Kong with the latest. Hi, Dalton.</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning, Deborah. Tokyo stocks slumped to a six-week low, after a ratings downgrade on some major tech firms, depressed market sentiment. The Nikkei average slipped 2 percent on the day, wiping out all the gains made since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office a month ago. Now, the tech sector was under pressure from a combination of Tuesday's sharp drop in the U.S. Nasdaq and Deutsch Securities' downgrade of 13 tech stocks. Japan's leading chipmaker, Toshiba, was cut to underperform from market perform, sending that stock down more than 7 percent. Investors in Hong Kong were also shaken by ongoing concerns over the outlook for global tech issues. Hong Kong's two big blue chips, China Mobile and Legend Holdings, both fell near 3 percent. And that left the Hang Seng Index 1 1/2 percent weaker at the close. Seoul's composite index finished a half percent weaker, after enthusiasm over General Motors impending takeover of Daewoo Motor ran its course. The U.S. giant handed over its proposal to buy the bankrupt South Korean auto-maker this day. But media reports suggest GM is only willing to take on a small portion of Daewoo's $17 billion worth of debt. And that is the business and market day here in Asia. Back to you, Deb, in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, Dalton, thanks a lot. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Asian Markets Spooked by Sun Preannouncement