HONG KONG (Dow Jones) -- Asian handset and telecom companies were mostly lower Monday, with shares tracking general declines in major indexes.
Telecoms were back in focus following media reports Monday that Nokia and Siemens are combining their phone equipment units in a deal valued at $31.5 billion.
The combined entity, roughly equal in size to rival Ericsson of Sweden and a combined Lucent-Alcatel, would be particularly powerful in supplying the mobile-telephone industry, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The deal will also help Siemens and Nokia fend off a growing threat to their global market share from Asian competitors, according to The Journal.
Analysts said it was difficult to assess the impact of the Nokia Siemens tie-up until more details of the deal were known.
In Asian trading, shares of leading handset maker Sony were down as much as 1.2%. Sony produces handsets under the Sony Ericsson brand.
In South Korea, handset markers LG Electronics were down as much as 2.6% while Samsung Electronics slipped as much as 0.35%.
In Hong Kong trading, shares of China Mobile were down 0.7% at HK$41.70. Shares of handset design houses China Wirelessand Solomon Systechwere lower as much as 1.2% and 2.3% respectively.
"They are starting to export more and more handsets out of China," said Brook McConnell, a fund manager with South Ocean Management in Hong Kong, referring to exports of mid-tier manufacturers. "That will eat into the market shares of Motorola, Nokia and Samsung."
Hong Kong-listed Truly, a supplier of LCD screens to cellular handset makers, was down 1.5%.
Mainland China computer and handset maker Lenovo (LNVGY) was down as much as 2%
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 19th June 2006
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/17871.php