Tokyo hangs on to end 1.4% higher


Honda was the top gainer among auto stocks on the Tokyo market Tuesday

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo and some other Asian stock markets closed higher Tuesday, but most gave back their early gains as investor enthusiasm waned.

After putting on more than three percent in early trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 average eased back to close 1.45 percent higher at 9,693.97, a gain of 138.98 points.

The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index gained 11.1 points or 1.1 percent to 1009.30.

Carmakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda were among the biggest gainers, along with some tech stocks. But losers included banking giant Mizuho Holdings and chipmakers Fujitsu and Toshiba.

Toyota closed at 2970 yen, up 7.6 percent or 210 yen from the previous close. Second-ranked Nissan jumped 9 percent to 460 yen after climbing about 13 percent in earlier trade.

Honda puts on more than 10%

Third-ranked Honda turned in the best performance, putting on 350 yen or 10.6 percent to 3650 yen.

Shares throughout the region initially rallied Tuesday, after Wall Street's first gain since the terrorist attacks on September 11 put some cheer back into markets.

But Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong all eased later in the day to finish in the red.

In Australia, the key S&P/ASX200 was up 38.1 points or 1.3 percent to 2962.7. Retailer Coles Myer rose after announcing a restructure that involves 1000 job losses. Bluechip banks were higher.

New Zealand's Top 40 was up about 1.7 percent or 30.94 points to 1821.93.

Big gains by the Dow, Nasdaq


Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony put on 4 percent

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average put on 4.47 percent or 368 points Monday to close at 8603.8. That was its fifth-biggest point gain yet, and came after the bargain hunting of last week had sent the market to three-year lows.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 76.22 to 1499.41.

With the Wall Street bounce pointing the way, Tokyo resumed trading Tuesday after a three-day weekend.

Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp gained 4 percent or 170 yen to 4390 yen and the country's biggest mobile phone carrier, NTT DoCoMo, put on 7 percent or 100,000 yen to 1.53 million yen.

In Korea, the Kospi opened about 1 percent higher, before sliding back to close down 2 percent or 10 points to 472.13.

Tech stocks such as Hynix Semi, Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom and Korea Telecom were among the stocks to give up ground.

In Hong Kong, bluechip bank HSBC and utility stocks made gains, but the big telco twins, China Mobile and China Unicom ended the day in the red.

The Hang Seng index ended 0.8 percent down at 9210.06 for a loss of 74.44 points.

Taiwan's Taiex closed 1.1 percent weaker at 3493.78, down 39.73 points. Chip foundries TSMC and UMC were among the losers.

Singapore's Straits Times index was off marginally in late afternoon trade, as was the BSE Sensex in Mumbai.

Dealers in Tokyo said doubts about the Japanese government's ability to tackle deep-seated structural reform issues were compounding investor anxiety stemming from the U.S. reaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Reuters contributed to this report.