Nintendo earnings hit Asian tech stocks

Asian stocks were lower for a second session on Tuesday as Japanese games makers slumped after Nintendo reported its second year of falling profits.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Apex 50 index was down 0.4 per cent at 928. 54 with Japan’s Nikkei 225 off 1.2 per cent at 9,558.69. Nintendo dropped 1.6 per cent to Y20,010 after saying that operating profit plunged 52 per cent in the year ended March 31 – though the company also said strong sales of its new handheld device should halt the slide in profits.

In the wider technology sector, Nidec, the world’s biggest maker of precision motors for hard-disk drives, sank 2.1 per cent to Y6,930 after it presented a downbeat outlook for this year. Sony, which also makes games, slid 2.1 per cent to Y2,415.

Japanese automakers were also under pressure after Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, cut its outlook on the sector as it grapples with supply chain disruptions in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami. Toyota was down 1.6 per cent at Y3,195, Honda fell 1.6 per cent to Y3,055.

Foreign selling of technology shares pushed South Korea’s Kospi Composite down 0.3 per cent. LG Electronics dropped 1.9 per cent to Won104,500.

China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.9 per cent to 2,938.98, falling for a third day, as copper producers lost ground on concerns that the government’s recent tightening measures were crimping demand for metals. Jiangxi Copper, China’s biggest producer of the metal, lost 2.7 per cent to Rmb36.89 and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group shed 2.5 per cent to 25.88. China Life Insurance fell 2.2 per cent to HK$29 after reporting a 22 per cent drop in first-quarter profit.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 0.5 per cent to 24,007.38 as oil producers dropped in response to lower crude oil prices. Cnooc, China’s biggest offshore oil producer, declined 0.9 per cent to HK$19.70, while PetroChina, the nation’s largest oil company, eased 0.5 per cent to Rmb11.72.

Trading in China’s Minmetals Resources was suspended at the company’s request after Barrick Gold made an agreed $7.6bn offer for Equinox Minerals, the Australian-Canadian copper miner that has been the target of a hostile bid from the Chinese company.