(MENAFN - ABN Newswire)
Asian share markets mostly fell on Friday as investors' sentiment turned soured after the Wall Street losses overnight. Tokyo stocks fell sharply with the key Nikkei index hitting a fresh four-month intraday low under 9,500. Yen remained strong despite many key currencies were lower against US dollar.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was also lower at the opening today pressured by global economic recovery worries. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index today is trading in a negative territory, led by listed mainland Chinese companies.
Company News
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. (TYO:8766) plans to establish an Indian life insurance joint venture with Mumbai-based financial services firm Edelweiss Capital Ltd. around January 2011, said a Japanese media. Tokio Marine and Edelweiss Capital will set up a preliminary company as early as this month. Tokio Marine will take a stake of around 26%, investing nearly 3 billion yen, while Edelweiss Capital is likely to obtain a 74% interest.
Leading construction machinery maker Komatsu Ltd.'s (TYO:6301) financing business in China is expected to post a 600 million yen operating profit for the year ending in March 2010, thanks to funding demand for excavator purchases. Komatsu's excavator sales in China more than doubled on the year in October. The Chinese market is estimated to account for 18% of the firm's global sales.
South Korea's Samsung Engineering Co. (SEO:028050) said Friday it has received a US$2.7 billion order to build an oil refinery plant by April 2013 for Takreer, an affiliate of Abu Dhabi's state-run oil company Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. The new order has helped the company achieve over US$8 billion in new orders for 2009, exceeding its annual order target of US$7 billion. Daewoo Engineering & Construction (SEO:047040) also said today it had won a US$1.2 billion order under the United Arab Emirates' Ruwais refinery expansion project, awarded by the Takreer.
China Airlines Ltd. (TPE:2610), Taiwan's largest airline by revenue, expects to post a small profit in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, after net losses in the previous two quarters. The company is exploring the possibility of raising NT$10 billion next year, but the amount hasn't been finalized yet.
Toshiba Corp. (TYO:6502) said Friday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to form a semiconductor-assembly and testing joint venture in China, as part of steps to outsource some of the chip-manufacturing process. Toshiba has signed a pact with Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics Co. (SHE:002156), a joint venture owned by Nantong Huada Microelectronics Group Co., Fujitsu Ltd. (TYO:6702) of Japan and others.