Nikkei ends at six-week high


Honda's share price rose 3.5 percent Wednesday, but rivals Toyota and Nissan both eased.

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo's Nikkei index rose 1.1 percent to close at a six-week high Wednesday, with Japanese technology stocks advancing in step with U.S. tech giants IBM and Intel.

Most other Asian markets also moved ahead, with Korea and Hong Kong matching Tokyo's percentage gains.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average was up 117.63 points to 10,755.45, its highest close since September 4.

The broader, capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 9.44 points or 0.88 percent to 1,087.6.

Japanese tech stocks including Sony, NEC, Fujitsu and Hitachi moved higher. Sony rose 3.06 percent to 5,050 yen.

That followed gains in shares of U.S. computing giant IBM and top chipmaker Intel Corp on the Instinet electronic broker system after their earnings squeaked past Wall Street forecasts or managed to match estimates.

Kyocera, Advantest make strong gains

Kyocera Corp, the world's largest maker of integrated circuit ceramic packages, rose 5.45 percent to 9,090 yen, while Advantest Corp, a top maker of chip-testing devices, gained 13.11 percent to 6,900 yen.

Among automakers, Toyota and Nissan eased, but third-ranked Honda was up 3.5 percent to 4450 yen.

Nissan fell 4.5 percent to 573 yen, hit by selling after major brokerage Goldman Sachs lowered its investment rating on Japan's number-two car maker to "market performer" from "recommended list," a two-step drop.

Internet investor Softbank Corp was the day's second-most heavily traded share in terms of turnover.

Softbank, which holds stakes in several companies listed on Nasdaq including Yahoo! Inc, soared by its daily limit of 400 yen or 15.5 percent to 2,980.

Traders told Reuters news agency that individual investors and brokerage dealers snatched up Softbank on hopes of quick profits from a potential rebound. Its shares had fallen more than 95 percent from its intraday high of 66,000 yen marked in February 2000.

Australian banks, miner WMC on the move

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 27.25 points or 0.85 percent to 3237.9, with diversified miner WMC rising 4.3 percent on confirmation that it is talking to Alcoa and other parties about a possible takeover.

The market's biggest stock, media giant News Corp, closed virtually flat, down 1 cent to A$13.90. The big banks were higher with the exception of ANZ Bank, down 16 cents or 0.9 percent to A$17.25.

In Seoul, the Kospi was 1.22 percent or 6.38 points higher at 528.2. Market giants SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics were among the gainers, while Hynix Semiconductor closed flat at 1015 won.

New Zealand's Top 40 was up 3.61 points to 1921.18, while Taiwan's Taiex rose 22.27 points or 0.6 percent to 3817.13.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up about 112.32 points or 1.11 percent to 10,260.81 after reaching 10,331 earlier in the day.

Bluechip bank HSBC was up about 1 percent while property chip Cheung Kong Holdings gained more than 3 percent and stablemate Hutchison Whampoa put on more than 6 percent.

Losers included the two big wireless telcos, China Mobile and China Unicom.

Singapore's Straits Times index was moving in and out of the red. Just before the close it was up 2.35 points to 1431.

Reuters contributed to this report.