THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: The slowdown in the United States has meant some big job cuts abroad, particularly in Japan. Dalton Tanonaka joins me live from Hong Kong with the impact on Asian markets today. Hello, Dalton.</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Deb. Overall, the Tokyo market, the Nikkei, fell 1.6 percent to a near 17-year low on weakness in tech issues. Chip giant Toshiba led the decline there. It closed 4 percent weaker amid speculation it would soon issue a profit warning just days after rivals Aventis and Rohm did the same. But computer giant Fujitsu, that's the story this day. It bucked the trend with a near 3 percent gain. Investors and analysts welcoming Fujitsu's announcement that it would cut more than 16,000 jobs from its global work force in a major bid to lower costs. The company saying the move was prompted by an unprecedented deterioration in the chip and information technology sectors. The layoffs are expected to help Fujitsu generate an operating profit of $3.3 billion by April 2003. A steep fall in the share price of China's leading mobile phone company hit overall market sentiment in Hong Kong. Investors continued to sell China Mobile on worse-than-expected interim profits out last week. It fell more than 7 percent this trading day, taking down the benchmark Hang Seng by 2.5 percent. Friday's 3 percent tumble on the Nasdaq triggered further tech losses in Seoul. Blue chip heavyweight Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom each slumping near 3 percent. The benchmark KOSPI closing down 2.3 percent overall. And that is the market day in a nutshell in Asia. Back to you, Deb, in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, thank you very much, Dalton. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Nikkei Falls on Weakness in Tech Issues