Elsewhere in the region, markets in Korea and Australia were also weaker by midday. Hong Kong, Taiwan and New Zealand traded slightly stronger, with the Hang Seng index up about 16 points to 13,223 and the Taiex up 64 points to 5049. New Zealand's Top40 index was up 43 points to 2065.91. In Tokyo, traders said institutional investors were selling off some tech stocks from their portfolios. Top chipmaker Toshiba Corp shed 1.33 percent to 666 yen despite news that it and U.S. design software maker Simplex Solutions Inc have developed a new way to link the millions of tiny switches on microchips, a technique that they said could speed chip performance and slash manufacturing costs.
Banks still hold problem loans Tokyo's decline was also led by banking shares.
Major banks hold a mountain of problem loans. Earnings reports late last month showed major Japanese banks' bad loans expanded last business year, despite repeated comments from bank executives that problem loan disposals have peaked. Koizumi until recently. Reuters contributed to this report. An AOL Time Warner Company.