Asian Markets May 23,2006 HMC, NIPNY, SNE, PCW

The Nikkei 225 was off 259 points or 1.6% near the close falling to 15,599. Honda Motor was down 3.7%. Komatsu was off 5.2%. Mazda was down 4%. NEC was off over 2%. Sony dipped over 1%. According to Reuters, the primary cause for the drop was the concern that rising U.S. interest rates could hurt goods being sold by Japan into the American economy.

The Hang Seng Index was flat at 15,792. Lenovo Group was up nearly 2%. PCCW was off 1%.

The KOSPI was down .67% to 1,330. The Straits Times was up .54% at 2,430

The Shanghai Composite Index faired poorly, down 3.2% to 1,604.

Douglas A. McIntyre