US markets closed down overnight with the Dow Jones in particular hit by a poor response to second quarter results from computer maker Hewlett Packard.

HP is a Dow constituent and dumping of its shares sent the index overall down by 31 to 9,379. Nasdaq was unchanged at 1,760 while the S&P 500 dipped 2 to 1,000.

Traders said the Hewlett was so badly hit, the shares crumbled by nearly 11%, because of its strong performance in the preceding weeks.

Prior to yesterday the share price had risen by 30% since its last earnings statement. The figures themselves showed earning nearly doubling but this was still below expectations.

A report showing semiconductor orders in the US picking up for the first time since March offset some of the disappointment over HP.

Weekly jobless figures will be the centre of attention today, with traders hoping for another number below 400,000.

Asian markets ignored the figures from Hewlett and continued to make progress in the hope that a US recovery is underway.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained just under 1% to close at 10, 362. South Korea's Kospi index had it best day for two months to close at 754 while near the end of trading the Hang Seng in Hong Kong had climbed 121 to 10, 596.