Asian SEs down on tech woes

SINGAPORE, JANUARY 6: Asian stock markets took a beating for the second consecutive day on Thursday with investors fretting over US interest rates and potentially overvalued high-tech shares. Japanese stocks ended down two per cent, while Hong Kong’s index dropped more than four per cent – a day after shedding more than seven per cent in their biggest point drop since 1997.

"We haven’t seen any support," said Celestial Asia Securities stock market analyst William Li. In Europe, the FTSE 100 was trading down about one per cent at about 0908 GMT as index heavyweights British Telecom and HSBC fell.

Other European markets opened mixed. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index ended down two per cent at 18,168.27, after the president of Sony said that the electronic giant’s shares were overvalued and like a "bubble".