Mitsui''s Smith is distraught that gold is rising; Sinclair sends him a hankie

By Allen Wan
CBS.MarketWatch.com
Thursday, October 23, 2003

a href=http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=http://cbs.marketwatch.co...
B6B2-F84A31A5FC28amp;siteid=mktwamp;dist=bnb

TOKYO -- Tokyo's key stock index plunged more than 500
points -- 5 percent -- on Thursday on worries over
an overheating market, political controversy, and
Japanese corporate earnings after disappointing U.S.
results sent Wall Street tumbling to levels not seen
in weeks.

The Nikkei Average tumbled 544 points to end at 10,335.16
-- the biggest fall so far this year. Asian markets were down
across the board on the back of losses for technology
stocks.

In Japan, losses cut across all sectors, though banking
and Internet stocks, in particular, were getting a shellacking
of major proportions. The country's top bank Mizuho
Financial plunged 10.4 percent to 249,000 yen while
compatriot UFJ Holdings fell 8.6 percent to 447,000 yen.

Shares of Internet investor Softbank tumbled 13.9 percent to
5,370 yen.

Analysts said that worries about earnings on both sides of
the Pacific had emerged to send buyers scurrying for cover
as Wall Street's tumble and the yen's persistent strength
added fuel to the fire.

quot;Japanese stocks are following the plunge of New York
stocks. A variety of stocks, including companies that turned
in good earnings, were sold in America. Investors are
predicting that Nasdaq will fall and that the earnings results
for the current quarter will be bad,quot; said Norihiro Fujito,
Mitsubishi Securities' senior investment strategist.

Elsewhere in the tech sector, NEC plunged 3.9 percent to
895 yen ahead of the release of its earnings today. Sony,
which is also unveiling first-half earnings today, fell 3.4
percent to 4,040 yen amid a Nihon Keizai Shimbun report
that the consumer electronics giant is finalizing a plan to
set up a financial holding company to group its banking
and insurance units.

Fujitsu fell 3.6 percent to 665 yen amid a Nikkei report that
it and Sun Microsystems had agreed to merge their high-end
server operations. A Fujitsu spokesman said that there have
not been fresh discussions to broaden their partnership. ...

The dollar recovered to 109 yen in noon Tokyo after falling
below that key mark earlier as Wall Street hit levels not seen
in a month on the back of disappointing earnings from the
likes of drugmaker Merck.

The strong yen, which makes Japanese companies less
competitive overseas, had a negative effect on tech exporters
and automakers. Nissan, which said it will unveil a new
sports car in 2007 as a successor to the Skyline at the 37th
Tokyo Auto Show, skidded 5.6 percent to 1,226 yen.

quot;I see the dollar is going to 105 yen,quot; said Cyril Alexander,
broker at Tokyo forex firm Akebono Shoji. quot;The U.S. current
account deficit is the largest it has ever been so I think there's
got to be some kind of correction.quot;

Currencies reacted little to news that Japan's trade surplus
rose 4.8 percent to 1.10 trillion yen in September from
year-ago levels, marking the third straight month of gains,
the finance ministry said.

quot;Stocks could recover if the yen becomes a little more
weaker,quot; said Fujito.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi fell 2.1 percent to
762, Taiwan's Weighed Average gave up 1.2 percent to 5,967,
and Singapore's Straits Times Index lost 1.2 percent to 1,749.

----------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:

gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:

gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

----------------------------------------------------

RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Free sites:

a href=http://www.jsmineset.comhttp://www.jsmineset.com/a

a href=http://www.cbs.marketwatch.comhttp://www.cbs.marketwatch.com/a

a href=http://www.mineweb.com/http://www.mineweb.com//a

a href=http://www.gold-eagle.com/http://www.gold-eagle.com//a

a href=http://www.kitco.com/http://www.kitco.com//a

a href=http://www.usagold.com/http://www.usagold.com//a

a href=http://www.GoldSeek.com/http://www.GoldSeek.com//a

a href=http://www.capitalupdates.com/http://www.capitalupdates.com//a

a href=http://www.goldenbar.com/http://www.goldenbar.com//a

a href=http://www.silver-investor.comhttp://www.silver-investor.com/a

a href=http://www.thebulliondesk.com/http://www.thebulliondesk.com//a

a href=http://www.sharelynx.nethttp://www.sharelynx.net/a

a href=http://www.mininglife.com/http://www.mininglife.com//a

a href=http://www.financialsense.comhttp://www.financialsense.com/a

a href=http://www.goldensextant.comhttp://www.goldensextant.com/a

a href=http://www.goldismoney.info/index.htmlhttp://www.goldismoney.info/index....

a href=http://www.howestreet.comhttp://www.howestreet.com/a

a href=http://www.depression2.tvhttp://www.depression2.tv/a

a href=http://www.moneyfiles.org/http://www.moneyfiles.org//a

a href=http://www.howestreet.comhttp://www.howestreet.com/a

a href=http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.htmlhttp://www.minersmanual.com/mi...

a href=http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.htmlhttp://ww...

a href=http://www.goldcolony.comhttp://www.goldcolony.com/a

a href=http://www.mineralstox.comhttp://www.mineralstox.com/a

Subscription site:

a href=http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/http://www.lemetropolecafe.com//a

a href=http://www.hsletter.comhttp://www.hsletter.com/a

Eagle Ranch discussion site:

a href=http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htmhttp://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm/a

----------------------------------------------------

COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS

Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East 1st Ave.
Suite 403
Denver, Colorado 80206
www.USAGold.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
US (800) 869-5115
Canada 1-800-294-9462
European Union 00-800-2760-2760
Australia 0011-800-2760-2760
cpm@usagold.com

Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net

Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkwa
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
a href=http://www.gloomdoom.comhttp://www.gloomdoom.com/a
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com

Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
a href=http://www.kitco.comhttp://www.kitco.com/a

Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com

Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
a href=http://www.milesfranklin.comhttp://www.milesfranklin.com/a
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel

Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com

Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
a href=http://www.buycoin.comhttp://www.buycoin.com/a
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
figoldstein@buycoin.com

----------------------------------------------------

HOW TO HELP GATA

If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.

By check:

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA

By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:

a href=http://www.gata.org/creditcard.htmlhttp://www.gata.org/creditcard.html/a

By GoldMoney:

a href=http://www.GoldMoney.comhttp://www.GoldMoney.com/a
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L

Donors of $750 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled quot;GATA.quot;

GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.