Asian Markets Overview of March 20

Sydney, Mar 20, 2009 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Asian markets opened mixed Friday. Japan's Nikkei average jumped above 8000 points in early trade while South Korea's Kospi was higher led by shipbuilders and steelmakers. Other markets include Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai opened flat following the falls on Wall Street.

Asia Economy Watch

Taiwan government is considering offering an additional NT$200 billion of preferential home loans to the public and will probably announce its decision in the next two days, says an unnamed official.

The South Korean government will spend an additional 4.9 trillion won this year to create and maintain jobs, as well as support the unemployed after data showed that the nation sustained its greatest number of jobs lost in a one-month period in more than five years in February.

Company News

Chinese consumer electronics maker SVA Group, parent company of SVA Electron Co. Ltd (SHA:600602), may sell its entire 50% stake in a joint venture with Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Co. to China Huarong Asset Management Corp. said a Chinese media. It is reported that SVA plans to withdraw from Nissay-SVA Life Insurance Co. to focus on its core business.

The Shenzhen Development Bank (SHE:000001) posted a 76.8 per cent drop in its net profit to 614 million yuan last year, due to the large-scale provisioning and bad loans write-off efforts.

Japanese residential aluminium manufacturer JS Group Corp. (TYO:5938) is in talks to take a 30% interest in building materials firm Shin Nikkei Co., a unit of Nippon Light metal Co. (TYO:5701) as part of a broader alliance in aluminium sash operations.

Hong Kong based container-shipping operator Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. (HKG:0316) said Friday its 2008 net profit fell 89% from the previous year.

China's telecommunications equipment company ZTE Corp (SHE:000063)(HKG:0763) said now the company has a 30 per cent share of the mainland 3G network equipment market. ZTE has booked its net profit surged 32.5 per cent to 1.66 billion yuan and revenue climbed 27.37 per cent to 44.293 billion yuan.

China Mobile (HKG:0941)(NYSE:CHL) said the telecom giant's full-year net profit rose 23.8 percent to 112.8 billion yuan on strong subscriber growth, although the fourth-quarter result showed growth easing. The group said it will tap into the 3G market, and it is in talks with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) over the iPhone and working with Nokia (NYSE:NOK), hoping to launch Nokia's 3G phone in the second half of this year.

Yamaha Corp. (TYO:7951) said the company plans to close piano plants in Taiwan and the U.K. as part of a broader operational restructuring as sharp downturns hit the demand for output from the Taiwanese and British factories. The company will consolidate manufacturing to China and Indonesia.

South Korea's Posco (SEO:005490) said Friday it had settled pulverized coal injection coal prices at US$90 a metric ton with Australian suppliers for this year, down 63% from a year earlier.

Contact

Michelle Liang Asia Business News Asia Bureau Tel: +61-2-9247-4344 Email: michelle.liang@abnnewswire.net