By Osamu Tsukimori, CBS MarketWatch.com
TOKYO (CBS.MW) - Japanese stocks fell by midday Tuesday as tech and other shares fell almost across the board after their U.S. counterparts fell sharply amid heightened concerns about higher U.S. interest rates.
By the midday break, the Nikkei Average fell 135 points, or 1.2 percent, to 11,355.80, while the broader Topix was down 10 points, or 0.9 percent, at 1,148.03.
Investors were sidelined as they await the key U.S. events, such as the consumer price index and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's speech later in the session, said Masaru Ueda, head of investment strategy at Marusan Securities.
"The robust U.S. retail sales data also spurred speculation that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates by 50 basis points, rather than 25 basis points," Ueda said.
U.S. retail sales rebounded in May, rising 1.2 percent after dropping a revised 0.6 percent in April, in line with economists' expectations. See full story.
Other regional markets were mostly lower.
South Korea's Kospi index was down 0.7 percent, Taiwan's Weighted Average was down 0.3 percent, Singapore's Straits Times index was down 0.6 percent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.5 percent.
China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.3 percent.
In Tokyo, tech shares extended declines, led by chip-related issues. Advantest /zigman2/quotes/206869087/delayed JP:6857 +1.16% /zigman2/quotes/202479540/delayed ADTTF -0.75% lost 3.1 percent and Tokyo Electron /zigman2/quotes/202883609/delayed JP:8035 +1.27% /zigman2/quotes/200298228/delayed TOELF -1.23% was down 2.6 percent.
NEC /zigman2/quotes/205173342/delayed JP:6701 -1.34% declined 3 percent and Toshiba /zigman2/quotes/205628942/delayed JP:6502 +0.58% /zigman2/quotes/203922036/delayed TOSBF +0.92% fell 2.5 percent.
Sharp /zigman2/quotes/203224600/delayed JP:6753 -0.28% fell 1.6 percent. The electronics maker said Monday it will begin marketing 45-inch TV sets in August in Japan, which it says are the world's biggest liquid crystal display TV sets capable of receiving digital TV broadcast.
Banking issues also fell, led by Resona Holdings /zigman2/quotes/203178794/delayed JP:8308 -0.83% , down 3.1 percent.
In the auto sector, Mitsubishi Motors /zigman2/quotes/208298710/delayed JP:7201 +2.88% /zigman2/quotes/200876874/delayed MMTOF +2.71% fell 2.6 percent. The struggling automaker decided to cancel its winter bonus to its employees to save about 5 billion yen ($45 million), in addition to forgoing the retirement pay for its three outgoing executives, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. Separately, its affiliate Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus said Monday it will recall another 450,000 vehicles in Japan.
Softbank Investment /zigman2/quotes/200067066/delayed JP:8473 +3.33% fell 1.8 percent. It will spend an estimated 22 billion won ($18.9 million) to buy shares to obtain a controlling stake in E-Trade Korea, an online securities company founded as South Korea's first online securities company by a group of investors including LG Investment and Softbank /zigman2/quotes/207303954/delayed JP:9984 +3.50% /zigman2/quotes/202815238/delayed SFTBF +1.99% , the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. Softbank's shares were down 1.3 percent.
Among the gainers were Honda /zigman2/quotes/200490352/delayed JP:7267 +0.63% /zigman2/quotes/207173990/composite HMC +0.04% , up 0.6 percent, Toyota /zigman2/quotes/203803129/delayed JP:7203 +2.14% /zigman2/quotes/200537742/composite TM +1.78% , up 0.5 percent and Sony /zigman2/quotes/201361720/delayed JP:6758 +1.19% , up 0.2 percent.
Decliners outpaced gainers 419 to 999 on the First Section of Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The dollar traded at 110.87 yen, compared with 111.05 yen late Monday in the U.S.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite index shed 1.5 percent.
Regional movers
In Seoul, Samsung Electronics /quotes/zigman/203012110/realtime SSNGY 0.00% was down 0.4 percent, LG Electronics shed 1.8 percent and Korean Air was down 2.6 percent.
In Taipei, Taiwan Semiconductor /zigman2/quotes/204359850/composite TSM +0.63% fell 1.2 percent and United Microelectronics /zigman2/quotes/207234499/composite UMC +1.30% was down 1.7 percent.
In Sydney, News Corp. /zigman2/quotes/204787942/composite NWS +0.62% eased 0.8 percent and BHP Billiton /zigman2/quotes/201448516/delayed AU:BHP +2.05% /zigman2/quotes/208108397/composite BHP +2.20% was down 1.3 percent.
Lion Nathan /zigman2/quotes/200006181/delayed LNNTF -78.00% , the nation's second-largest brewer, was up 2 percent.
In Singapore, Chartered Semiconductor was flat.
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