DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to get a look how the Asian markets traded. And for that, we go to Dalton Tanonaka in Hong Kong -- hello.</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Deborah. It was a weak Friday for most Asian markets, as profit worries dominated investor sentiment. The Nikkei in Tokyo lost nearly 1/3 of 1 percent. And one of Japan's biggest companies reported its annual results after the Tokyo market closed. Sony managing a near 1 percent rise in operating profits; the first time in three years the company saw an increase. But significant losses in its game division brought down net profits overall, which fell 86 1/4 percent. Hong Kong spent much of the day in negative territory, before a late-day rally helped the Hang Seng firm 7/10 percent. And fears of a slowing economy and poor corporate earnings sent the Taipei weighted index down 1.85 percent. The Japanese yen took a hit a day after the election of Junichiro Koizumi. His choice of finance minister is puzzling to some observers. Masajuro Shiokawa, little known to financial markets; and he admits that he doesn't know much about economics. His appointment had already caused a stir in the markets, and he then said the government should adopt a hands-off policy toward the end, and that hurt the currency, sitting in late-Asian levels of 123.23. That is the business and market day here in Asia. Back to you, Deb, in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, Dalton, thank you.
Asian Markets Faced Weak Friday