Nikkei leads Asian markets higher


The Nikkei finished almost 103 points higher Friday, recovering some of the week's earlier losses

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Japanese stocks finished higher Friday, despite the Bank of Japan surprising economists by leaving monetary policy unchanged.

Most other markets in Asia also ended higher.

After a shaky start in which some tech issues and automakers eased, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 average closed up 102.79 points or just over 1 percent at 9686.06.

The broader capital-weighted Topix was up 8.73 points or 0.93 percent to 949.97.

The Topix and the Nikkei touched 17 and 18-year lows respectively earlier in the week, fueling investors' fears that problem loans in the banking sector were coming to a head.

But on Friday, the big four Japanese banks all ended in positive territory, after the Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said funds could be available for a stock buying fund.

Adding a note of volatility to bank stocks later in the day was the decision by the central bank to leave its policy as is. Most observers had expected a further easing.

Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, closed up 0.42 percent or 1000 yen to 240,000 yen after going as high as 251,000 yen earlier in the day.

UFJ Holdings made the biggest gain, putting on 9000 yen or 3.3 percent to 282,000 yen.

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group added 8000 yen or 1 percent to 797,000 yen after bouncing as high as 842,000 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp put on 8 yen or 1.77 percent to 460 yen.

Australia, Korea up

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 added 35.9 points or 1.05 percent to 3450.4, while in Seoul the Kospi strengthened in the afternoon to close 11.95 points or 1.64 percent higher at 739.66.

Korea's market heavyweights led the way, with Samsung Electronics up 1.9 percent to 321,000 won and SK Telecom rising 1000 won or 0.4 percent to 243,000 won.

Hyundai Motor, which reported a record profit earlier in the week, was up 1.33 percent to 30,400 won.

Hong Kong and Singapore also moved higher, with the Hang Seng index up about 0.9 percent to 10,507.26 and the Straits Times index putting on about 0.7 percent near the close.

Hong Kong's biggest stocks, banking group HSBC and China Mobile, both made gains. China's top PC maker Legend added 4 percent to HK$3.20.

SingTel profit drops

In Singapore, Southeast Asia's biggest telco SingTel reported a net profit of about $800 million for the nine months to December 2001, a drop of about 25 percent on the corresponding period in 2000.

Taiwan's market is closed for the Lunar New Year holidays and will reopen on February 18.

With U.S. markets down again on Thursday, selected telcos and tech stocks in Japan were weaker.

These included mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo, which lost more than 2 percent to 1.36 million yen, Internet investor Softbank, and consumer electronics leader Sony, off 10 yen to 5710 yen.

Softbank fell 3.7 percent to 1800 yen and subsidiary Yahoo Japan lost 1.96 percent to 4.51 million yen after reports the government would take steps to regulate their jointly run high-speed ADSL Internet-access service, Yahoo BB.

Softbank and Yahoo launched the cut-rate service in September.

Nippon Steel down

McDonald's Co. (Japan) closed 110 yen or 3.91 percent higher at 2920 yen. Reuters reported that investors cheered its Thursday announcement that the company would launch an Internet-based business to provide easy access to information at its shops and settle payments online.

Nippon Steel Corp was down 1.65 percent at 179 yen, extending Thursday's 2.15 percent slide. Japan's biggest steelmaker said just before Thursday's close it had reduced its group net forecast for the year to March to break-even from a profit of 13 billion yen, reflecting poor market conditions.

In Japan, the market focus is now on the Group of Seven meeting in Ottawa this weekend and U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Japan between February 17 and 19.

In Australia, resources stocks fell in early trade, before heavyweight BHP Billiton recovered to close unchanged at A$11.65. Rival Rio Tinto was down 1.02 percent to A$39.59 after hitting a record intra-day high of A$41.00 on Tuesday.

Media giant News Corp recovered some favor with investors, jumping 4.7 percent or 59 cents to A$13.14.

Telco leader Telstra also was higher.

But No. 2 telco SingTel. Optus finished unchanged at A$1.79, after reporting a A$213 million loss for the nine months to December 2001, as part of SingTel's wider results.