Nissan Motor Leads Drop In Asian Markets

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - After the airline industry, the auto sector dragged down shares in most of the Asian region to its lowest since 2006.

Energy producers have cashed-in on higher oil prices, but it has pinched the auto sector led by the earnings from Nissan Motor Co. following General Motors' second-quarter net loss of $15.5 billion.

Earnings of major firms continue to put pressure on the region as they have not shown any substantial improvement as a slowing global economy continues, pushing down their profits.

Investors traded cautiously for better bargains in the region amid a rise in the region's resources producers sector.

In commodities, a light sweet crude-futures barrel for September delivery remained below $126-a-barrel mark in electronic trading over the weekend.

On Friday, crude oil advanced by $1.02 to $125.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, over indications that Iran will not give up its nuclear program, leading to the rise in Middle Eastern tension.

The contract moved down slightly by 12 cents to $125.22 a barrel in Singapore's electronic trading on Monday

In currency trading, the yen changed hands at 107.97 yen per U.S. dollar in Asia. In late New York on late Friday, the Japanese currency was at 107.70 yen against the dollar.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average closed lower by 161.41 points or 1.23 percent at 12,933.18 points, and the broader Topix index closed 1.9 percent lower to 1,248.25 points.

The downward trend in the shares was led by auto makers and financial institutions, offsetting gains from energy producers and drug makers, on weak earnings reports.

Shares of Inpex Holdings Inc., which is the country's largest oil explorer, gained by 0.6 percent.

Astellas Pharma Inc., Japan's second-largest drugmaker, advanced by 5.3 percent after its net income in the second quarter rose by 5.1 percent.

Shares of Nissan dropped by 4.8 percent as its net income plunged by 43 percent for the second quarter, followed by Mazda Motor Corp., which has a third stake owned by Ford Motor Co., slumped by 8.8 percent.

Toyota Motor Corp., the country's biggest automaker, declined by 3.3 percent.

Yamaha Corp., maker of musical instruments, was downgraded by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Monday, pushing down its shares by 8.4 percent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng closed down by 347.68 points or 1.52 percent at 22,514.92 points and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, closed by 1.1 percent lower at 12,402.42 points.

Shares of HSBC Holdings PLC, which got 26 percent of its 2007 revenue in North America, gained by 0.4 percent in Hong Kong.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index finished 0.3 percent lower at 4,887.70 points in Sydney led by resources producers of the country.

Shares of BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, declined by as much as 1.4 percent and Rio Tinto moved down by 1.5 percent. Woodside Petroleum moved up by 2.4 percent.

In China, the Shanghai composite index closed 0.9 percent lower at 2,776.83 points led by the shares of energy producers.

Shares of China Life Insurance Co. declined by 2.5 percent after last week's rally and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China dropped by 1.9 percent

Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi closed down by 2 percent in Seoul and New Zealand's NZX 50 index finished 0.5 percent down on Monday.

Singapore's Straits Times Index was moving down by 1.1 percent to 2,873.28 points. Taiwan's Taiex was closed 0.4 percent lower.