DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: The Asian markets failed to build on Monday's rally while a political scandal continues to shake investor confidence in the Philippines.</s>DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Michelle Han wraps up the day in Asian trading now from our studios in Hong Kong. Hello, Michelle.</s>MICHELLE HAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: David, Deborah, good morning. Well, a short-lived rebound for Asian markets as investors wait for Intel to report earnings later today. Sentiment was further dampened by U.S. earnings jitters and bearish comments from Wall Street. The fragile situation in the Middle East also spooked traders. Tokyo Nikkei average gave back almost all of Monday's gains, sinking more than 1 percent. Shares of chip makers NEC and Fujitsu were off sharply. Here in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shed two-thirds of a percent, pulled down by weakness in telecom stocks. In Manila, the composite index sank almost 2 percent to fresh two-year lows, while the peso, the struggling Philippine currency, recovered slightly from its record lows of Monday. Investors sentiment has been badly bruised recently by President Joseph Estrada's political troubles. He's come under fire for allegedly taking $8.7 million worth of kickbacks from gambling lords. Opposition lawyers are calling for Estrada's impeachment and the church in this prominently Catholic country is calling for his resignation. And finally, in South Korea, the benchmark Kospi plunged 6 2/3 percent as investors unloaded chip stocks. And that wraps up the trading day here in Asia. Back to you both in New York.</s>MARCHINI: Thank you, Michelle.
Asian Investor Sentiment Dampened by U.S. Earnings Jitters; Philippine President Estrada Faces Impeachment Over Scandal