Nikkei holds onto early gains; HK slips


Shares in NTT DoCoMo rose Friday after reports its talks with Korea's SK Telecom were continuing

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Tokyo's stock market jumped sharply higher by midday Friday after more gains on Wall Street and the continuing U.S. airstrikes on Afghanistan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average was up 251.34 points or 2.43 percent to 10,598.35, while the broader capital weighted TOPIX rose 18.51 points or 1.74 percent to 1,083.17.

The Nikkei is now well above its September 11 level, following a big gain on Thursday when it put on 3.83 percent.

Technology stocks continued to lead the way in Japan, with NEC up more than 5 percent, Toshiba up 3.6 percent and Fujitsu up 2.5 percent.

Consumer electronics giant Sony soared 5.6 percent to 5,090 yen. It had risen by its daily limit of 500 yen or 11.57 percent on Thursday.

DoCoMo, Kyocera make good ground

NTT DoCoMo was up 5.3 percent to 1.76 million yen, after a media report that its plan to take a stake in Korea's SK Telecom was being reconsidered.

Kyocera Corp, the world's biggest maker of ceramic packages for integrated circuits, was up 8.77 percent at 8,680 yen, far above its pre-attack closing of 8,090 yen.

Markets in Australia, New Zealand and Korea were also higher by midday, but Taiwan slipped and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was off about 110 points or 1 percent to 10,410 in late morning trade.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 20.6 points or 0.64 percent to 3219.8.

Positive comments from Murdoch


News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch says he sees 'some rays of sunshine' ahead for advertising sales

The market's biggest stock, media giant News Corp continued to gain after positive comments about the advertising market from executive chairman Rupert Murdoch at the annual general meeting Thursday.

News put on more than 4 percent to A$14.23. Australian resources stocks such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and WMC were all higher, but some banks were easier.

In Seoul, the Kospi was up about 2.37 points or 0.46 percent to 519.44. Chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics were higher, while SK Telecom recovered from an early decline to be marginally higher at 232,500 won.

Wall Street's solid performance on Thursday gave direction to Asian markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 169.59 or 1.84 percent to 9410.45, taking it to within 2 percent of its September 11 level. The other key indices, the Nasdaq composite and the S&P500 are now back above their pre-attack levels.

The Nasdaq ended Thursday 4.6 percent higher at 1701.47, while the S&P500 put on 1.5 percent to 1097.43.

Return to pre-attack levels 'symbolic'

"New York's return to pre-attack levels on the one-month anniversary of the attacks yesterday was symbolic," Tetsuya Ishijima, chief strategist at Okasan Securities, told Reuters news agency.

"But people's zeal alone is unlikely to push up shares further there. That should be true here, as well," he said, adding that investors were waiting for any proof from U.S.

The Bank of Japan is due to announce the results of its two-day policy meeting later in the day. The market consensus is for no change in its loose monetary policy.

Adding gloom to the domestic market was the Tokyo metropolitan government's announcement on Friday morning that it has found a suspected case of mad cow disease in Tokyo, after Japan's first case of the brain-wasting cattle disease was confirmed last month.

Reuters contributed to this report.