DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to get a look at where the Asian markets are trading. And to do that, we go to Michelle Han, live in our Hong Kong bureau. Hello, Michelle.</s>MICHELLE HAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deborah, good morning. Investors in Tokyo were in a jittery mood, ahead of a planned reshuffle in key stock indices. Morgan Stanley Capital International will announce new constituents for its influential global indices on Saturday. Analysts say the changes are likely to hurt Japanese companies, whose stocks are largely held by the government and banking groups. Former state telecom monopoly NTT is one such stock. It lost 5.2 percent. Automakers are also seen losing out. The Nikkei average ended almost a quarter of a percent lower. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index fell 1.3 percent. Weak sales figures from U.S. firms Dell Computer and Gap after Thursday's closing bell on Wall Street sparked fresh concerns about the state of the U.S. economy. And Taipei's weighted index lost 0.6 percent, despite rate cuts by the central bank and a televised address by President Chen Shui- bian. Taiwan's central bank trimmed rates by a quarter of a percent late Thursday, taking its queue from the U.S. Fed's move earlier in the week. And traders say Chen's speech, marking his first year in office, disappointed investors, as it did not contain anything concrete. And that's the business day here in Asia -- Deborah, back to you in New York.</s>MARCHINI: Thank you, Michelle. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Tokyo Investors in Jittery Mood; President Chen Shui-bian's Speech Disappoints Taiwanese Markets