DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to go check on Asian trading which didn't fare as badly as, yes, New York did yesterday. Dalton Tanonaka standing by live in Hong Kong with the latest. Hi, Dalton.</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Deborah. Asian markets finished the week largely on a positive note, despite the Nasdaq's ongoing fall. Tokyo's Nikkei advanced 1 1/3 percent. Investors there shrugging off a Standard & Poor's downgrade. The ratings agency lowered Japan's sovereign debt rating to AA+ from its highest AAA rating, the first Japan downgrade by S&P; in 26 years. The firm cites Japan's soaring debt levels and its lack of political will to revive the economy for this revision. Japan is the most heavily indebted nation in the industrialized world. In the face of that, the yen stood firm against the dollar; it settled at 116.82. Mitsubishi Motor had no comment on market speculation that it will cut at least 6,500 jobs under a sweeping reform plan. The company told CNN that it will make an announcement Monday. The share price of Japan's number-four automaker skidding a 1/2 percent. Mitsubishi is mired in a massive recall scandal involving more than one million cars. It's 34 percent owned by German-U.S. auto giant DaimlerChrysler. That company also will be unveiling a restructuring plan Monday. Gains in telecom giant. PCCW and global banking powerhouse HSBC lifted Hong Kong's Hang Seng more than 1 percent. In Taiwan, the tech heavy-weighted index fell a 1/2 percent due to the Nasdaq's problems. And that is the Asian trading day and week. Back to you, Deborah, in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, thank you, Dalton.
Asian Markets Stand Firm Despite Nasdaq's Fall