Beijing Olympics Fail To Boost Asia Markets

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - Olympics fever failed to boost the stocks in China, dropping to 52-week low, and other markets in Asian region closed mostly lower.

The auto sector and technology inched up on Friday as oil retreated along with some raw-material prices in the U.S. markets overnight.

In commodities, crude oil gained more than $119-a-barrel in electronic trading on Friday.

The contract was trading up slightly to $119.70 a barrel in Singapore's electronic trading.

In currency trading, the yen changed hands at 109.60 yen per U.S. dollar in Asia. In New York on late Thursday, the Japanese currency was at 109.31 yen against the dollar.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average closed higher by 43.42 points or 0.33 percent at 13,168.41 points, and the broader Topix index closed 0.1 percent higher at 1,259.93 points.

The upward momentum in the shares was led by auto makers and other exporters as a weaker yen against the dollar signaled possibly higher sales.

Toyota Motor Corp., the country's biggest, surged by as much as 5.5 percent, even after the company announced disappointing second quarterly profit.

Honda Motor increased by 0.9 percent and Mazda gained by 2.6 percent on Friday.

In the financial sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. declined by 3.5 percent, followed by Mizuho Financial Group Inc. shedding 1.7 percent in Tokyo.

Sanyo Electric Co., the world's largest maker of rechargeable batteries, plunged as much as 5.2 percent after its quarterly net income declined by 24 percent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng closed down by 1 percent at 21,885.21 points and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, also dropped by 1.7 percent at 11,742.39 points.

Shares of HSBC Holdings PLC, which got 26 percent of its 2007 revenue in North America, declined by 1.2 percent in Hong Kong.

Cnooc, which is China's largest oil and gas explorer led the market lower, decreased by 1.7 percent after crude dropped overnight in New York.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index finished 0.1 percent higher at 4,986.20 points in Sydney led by financial companies of the country.

Shares of Westpac Banking, the No.2 bank by market value, led the financial sector after increasing profit forecast for the rest of the year. The firm gained by 1.9 percent.

With the unchanged rates, most of the lenders in the country are hoping for more affordable borrowing costs, increasing their finances.

In China the Shanghai composite index closed 4.5 percent lower at 2,605.72 points led by the shares of energy producers.

Shares of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, which is refining giant, plunged by 5.0 percent even after crude oil prices retreated over the week.

Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi gained by 0.3 percent to 1,568.72 points in Seoul. New Zealand's NZX 50 index finished 0.6 percent lower, while Taiwan's Taiex closed 2.6 percent higher on Friday.