Mar 29, 2001 - 03:51 AM

Asian Shares Hit by Nasdaq's Plunge By Dirk Beveridge The Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) - Asian stocks fell Thursday, with Tokyo blue chips hit particularly hard, and European markets opened with fresh losses following a 6 percent dive by the U.S. Nasdaq composite index. Tokyo's 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average plunged 5 percent to close at 13,072.36 points, dragged lower by technology and telecoms shares that tagged along behind the battered Nasdaq.

Unease in the formerly soaring high-tech sector was heightened in Hong Kong, where the conglomerate envisioned as Asia's cyber superstar, Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd., opened down 13.7 percent following its announcement of massive losses on soured Internet investments.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down by 1.6 percent in the late afternoon, after fluctuating sharply during the session.

Traders around the region were discouraged by Wednesday's performance on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average lost 1.6 percent as the technology-heavy Nasdaq dropped even further.

"The markets are basically just reacting to what happened in U.S. equities overnight," said Manu Bhaskaran, chief economist at SG Securities in Singapore, where shares were off by 1.4 percent in the late afternoon. "I don't think there's any regional factors that have been a key."

Bhaskaran said worries about the slowing U.S. economy will persist, and he believes the Japanese yen could sink over the next few months, creating more volatility in Asia.

Japan's economy is Asia's largest, but it has been sputtering for years, holding back confidence in the region.

"The economy is entering a recession and the likelihood of government steps implemented quickly enough is low," said Shinichiro Kawasaki, analyst at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.

The slowing U.S. economy will start exerting more influence over Japan, with its heavy dependence on export earnings, Kawasaki said.

Europe's top markets opened lower on Thursday, with London prices falling 1 percent, prices in Frankfurt, Germany, falling 1.3 percent and Paris prices falling 1.7 percent.

Prices in Sydney, Australia, showed only modest losses Thursday, closing with a decline of 0.07 percent after partially rebounding from an early dip.

AP-ES-03-29-01 0351EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001