ASIA MARKETS: Japan Stocks Slide; Gold Miners Support Australia

By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian equities fell Thursday after a pullback on Wall Street, with Japanese stocks suffering a broad reversal after rallies in the previous two days, while an increase in gold prices and some strong earnings reports supported Australian shares.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average lost 1.3%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1%. The South Korean market was closed for a holiday.

The losses came after the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) Wednesday dropped more than 100 points for the first time since June, amid concerns about rising Treasury yields, and some weak results. An after-hours announcement of job cuts for tech major and Dow component Cisco Corp. (CSCO) in after-hours trade also weighed on Asia.

"The old adage that fear sells couldn't be truer at the moment. Chatter around a potential 1987-type crash or a looming market top in U.S. equities is growing louder by the day," said Rivkin analyst Tim Radford.

However, "as long as the big investors are confident in the U.S. economy and the U.S. equity market, we shouldn't see an overly big selloff from current levels in the near term," he said.

Losses in Tokyo surfaced across several sectors, coming as the U.S. dollar (USDJPY) lost grip of the Yen98-level.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMTOY) slid 2.2%, Panasonic Corp. (PCRFY) shed 2.7%, Fast Retailing Co. (FRCOY) gave up 2.6%, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. (DSECY) lost 3%, and telecommunications major Softbank Corp. (9984.TO) declined 2.8%.

In Sydney, gold miners climbed after the metal's prices rose 1% overnight. Shares of Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCMGF) popped 3.2%, and Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (KCN.AU) advanced 6.4%.

Shares of AMP Ltd. picked up 3.7% after the firm said first-half underlying profit fell 9% but still came in above its projections made earlier.

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