Asian stocks rally on yen, low turnover


Banks fired ahead for a second day of gains in Tokyo, after the BOJ eased monetary policy

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with most markets rebounding from losses.

A day after the central Bank of Japan eased monetary policy, gains in bank stocks fired Tokyo's Topix index ahead 1.59 percent to close at 1,012.47.

But Japan's Nikkei gave way to tech selling, dipping 0.36 percent to 10,434.52. That followed a 1.1 percent decline in U.S. trading on the Nasdaq overnight.

Though the Nikkei index is better known than the Topix, it has a heavier technology weighting. The Topix measures the move of all the stocks on Tokyo's first section.

The yen hit a new three-year weak level against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, at 128.79, after Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said a 30 trillion yen cap on government bonds might not hold.

Banks up again after BOJ move

That cap was built into the ministry's draft budget for the 2003 business year, which it put out Thursday. It calls for a 1.7 decline in the overall budget.

The yen had settled back to 128.13 later in the day.

On Thursday, the big move came from the BOJ's decision to ease monetary policy the day before. That prompted a second big day of gains for Japan's banks.

Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank by assets, closed up 9.17 percent to 250,000 yen.

Beaten-down Asahi Bank raced ahead 18.5 percent to 85 yen. Japan's second-largest bank group, Sumitomo Mitsui, rose 4.9 percent to 548 yen.

Sydney up on single-stock stories

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6 percent to end at 3,343.9. With trading slowing ahead of Christmas, single-stock moves were the focus.

Real-estate developer Lend Lease shot up 4.6 percent to A$12.50 after the British government selected it as part of a joint venture to redevelop an area of the Thames river that includes London's Millennium Dome.

Thursday was also the start of the new system linking trading between the stock markets in Sydney and Singapore.

Investors in one can now buy stocks directly in the other market. The initial action revolved around stocks like Singapore Telecommunications, listed in both markets.

News Corp. rose 1.6 percent to A$15.41, after its Star television subsidiary landed approval to broadcast a Chinese-language channel in China's Guandong province.

It was a decent day for big caps, National Australia Bank rising 1.3 percent to A$31.25.

In New Zealand, the NZSE-40 index lost 0.35 percent to finish at 2,028.53.

Stock in Auckland International Airport fell 2.2 percent to NZ$3.59 after the city council confirmed it is selling its 25 percent stake.

New figures also dealt tourist-oriented stocks like the airport a blow, with Kiwi tourism posting a 10 percent drop in November.

Telecom New Zealand dropped 2 cents to NZ$4.93 on light trading ahead of Christmas. Wood-products company Carter Holt Harvey fell 4 cents to NZ$1.63.

South Korea, Taiwan with strong gains

In South Korea, the Kospi index roared ahead 2.7 percent to 664.51, arresting a two-week slide after very strong gains since September.

The second-largest stock, SK Telecom, gained 6.97 percent to 261,000 won, coming off seven-week lows.

That is despite Wednesday's announcement that Japan's NTT DoCoMo was pulling out of talks on a tieup with the cell-phone operator.

Seoul's largest listing, Samsung Electronics, lifted 0.4 percent to 265,000 won.

The country's largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor, was also up 0.4 percent, to 26,050 won.

Taiwan's Taiex index closed up 1.67 percent at 5,309.10, breaking a three-day losing streak.

Market watchers said bargain hunting was inevitable after a steep selloff.

The Taiex had rallied 25 percent after elections on December 1 before its correction.

Memory chipmaker Mosel Vitelic was the most active stock, up the daily 7 percent limit for a one-day move in Taiwan to T$12.80.

Rival Winbond Electronics was also "limit-up" at T$18.00.

That helped the electronics subindex to a 2.3 percent rise, a rare day when it broke ranks with Nasdaq's overnight performance.

Banks lost ground yet again but are still well up this month on merger speculation.

Hong Kong up on bouncy mainland plays

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed up 0.33 percent at 11,603.39.

China Mobile, the largest cell-phone company in mainland China, rallied from an earlier dip to close up 0.89 percent at HK$28.35.

China Unicom, its smaller counterpart, mapped the same path to close up 0.58 percent at HK$8.65.

But Hong Kong stocks were held back by a drop in the largest listing, banking group HSBC.

It fell 1.06 percent to HK$93.50 on concern about its Europe operations.

China stocks were off again, with B shares in Shanghai down 1.02 percent and in Shenzhen down 2.07 percent, on further concern about a flood of new offerings taking investor cash from existing shares.

Singapore's Straits Times index was up 0.15 percent in the last hour of trade at 1,597.90. But Singapore's gains were narrowing, on a bumpy day that saw stocks rally back from morning losses.

Earlier in the day, Singapore Airlines was offsetting losses in DBS Group, Southeast Asia's largest bank. Property stocks were still moving ahead.

Indian shares were narrowly up in afternoon trade, though a report of a government crackdown on overseas funds for breaking currency rules was chilling the market.