Tokyo ends lower, other markets up


Mizuho Holdings moved against the bank stock tide Wednesday to close higher

TOKYO, Japan -- Banks and tech stocks dragged Japan's Nikkei stock index lower Wednesday, but other Asian markets ended mostly higher.

The Nikkei was in negative territory throughout the day, closing 52.27 points or half a percent lower at 9641.70.

At one point in the morning it was down to 9551.73.

The broader, capital-weighted TOPIX index lost 11.02 points or just over 1 percent to 998.28.

Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong all closed higher. In Mumbai the BSE Sensex was up about 2 percent in afternoon trade.

Other markets in the region to stay in the red included Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Australian banks move ahead

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 28.3 points or about 1 percent to 2991, with big banks making gains. Media giant News Corp eased, as did retailer Coles, which announced a large restructuring Tuesday.

Treasurer Peter Costello's announcement of a bigger than expected surplus boosted Australian investor sentiment.

In Seoul, the Kospi moved in a narrow range for most of the day, before ending fractionally higher, up 0.72 points or 0.15 percent at 472.85.

Hynix Semi and Samsung Electronics stayed in the red, as did SK Telecom.

Taiwan's Taiex was more volatile, dropping more than 2 percent in early trade to 3411 before recovering to close 131.75 points or 3.77 percent higher at 3625.53. Tech stocks all made good gains.

Hong Kong's HSBC, Cheung Kong end higher

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended 161.69 points or 1.76 percent higher at 9371.75. Bluechips such as HSBC and Cheung Kong were sharply higher.

Telco twins China Mobile and China Unicom, plus conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa rose moderately.

Japan's market was weighed down by weakness in some bank stocks and some techs. Sony, Fujitsu, NEC, Hitachi, Toshiba and Canon were among the losers.


Stocks in Japanese automakers were softer Wednesday, led by Toyota

Canon, Japan's largest office machine maker which has about a third of its sales in North America, dropped 4.69 percent to 3,250 yen.

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group dropped 4.1 percent to 954,000 yen, after touching a low of 947,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, one of the four main creditor banks of ailing retailer Daiei Inc, was also down 4.1 percent to 891 yen.

Mizuho recovers to close 1.9% up

Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank by assets, fell to a low of 455,000 yen in morning trade before recovering to close 1.9 percent higher at 479,000 yen. On Tuesday it had fallen 9.27 percent.

Number-one automaker Toyota Motor Corp dipped 4.04 percent to 2,850 after rising 7.6 percent on Tuesday. Second-ranked Nissan also lost more than 4 percent, while third-ranked Honda was flat.

Overall regional sentiment overall benefited from Wall Street's first two-day winning streak in more than a month.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.65 percent to 8,659.97 Tuesday, after logging its fifth-largest point gain on Monday in the wake of last week's drastic sell-off.

The Nasdaq ended 0.15 percent or 2.24 points higher at 1501.64.

Analysts said the Tokyo market's topside was capped by U.S. data showing consumer confidence after the September 11 hijack attacks suffered its largest one-month drop since October 1990, and uncertainty over the scope of U.S. retaliation.

"Yesterday's sharp fall in bank shares is overshadowing sentiment," Masatoshi Sato, manager at Mizuho Investors Securities' equity division, told Reuters news agency.

Reuters contributed to this report.