Japanese, South Korean stocks declined this week

Japanese fell for a fourth week, with the benchmark average dropping to a 20-year low.

Exporters as TDK Corp led declines amid concerns that a US-led war with Iraq will damp overseas demand for their goods.

"Domestic investors are selling shares outright to reduce their risk as a war with Iraq could hurt the US economy," said Xinyi Lu, chief strategist at UFJ Bank Ltd in Tokyo. "Lower consumer demand in the US from a war will be very negative for Japanese exporters."

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.7 percent for the week, while the Topix index fell 1.3 percent. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc had a record drop on concern the Nikkei's dip below 8000 would force lenders to book wider losses on stock holdings.

South Korean stocks slid for a third week after a probe into SK Group's accounting prompted US$4 billion of redemptions from mutual funds. Kookmin Bank and other lenders to SK companies led the drop. The KOSPI index shed 1.5 percent for the week.

The TAIEX Index gained 2.9 percent this week, its biggest weekly advance in seven weeks. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台灣積體電路公司) gained on speculation it may get more orders after shareholder Royal Philips Electronics NV shut a US plant and cut jobs.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.6 percent. Citic Pacific Ltd gained after the Hong Kong arm of China's biggest investment company said it will pay a special dividend.

In Japan, TDK slid 7.5 percent for the week and was the heaviest drag on the Nikkei. Japan's largest maker of magnetic parts for hard disk drives gets as much as two-thirds of its sales from abroad. Tokyo Electron Ltd, the world's No. 1 maker of chip-production equipment, dropped 2.6 percent this week. The company's shares were the second-biggest drag on the Nikkei.

Sumitomo Mitsui, the world's fourth-largest lender by assets, declined 6.8 percent this week. The bank was the third-heaviest drag on the Nikkei. Sumitomo Mitsui and six rival banks' investment losses rose more than fourfold to ¥5.8 trillion as of March 7, from a year ago, Daiwa Institute of Research said.