Korea leads Asian markets higher


The Nikkei finished above 10,000 in Japan on Thursday at 10,081.09

TOKYO, Japan -- Stock markets in Japan, Korea and Australia all closed higher Thursday, lifted by a rise on U.S. markets and specific domestic factors.

Korea's market made the strongest gains, with its Kospi index jumping more than 7.6 percent to levels not seen since July 2000.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average finished 112.74 points or 1.1 percent higher at 10,081.09.

Its rise through the 10,000 mark came despite a warning of a credit rating review Wednesday by ratings agency Moody's Investor Services.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 jumped to an intra-day high of 3506 before settling back to close at 3487.0, a gain of 12.4 points or 0.36 percent.

Consumers confident

Surveys this week have shown a rise in Australian consumer confidence, and optimism about the economic outlook.

A strong profit result Wednesday from one of Australia's biggest banks, Commonwealth Bank, has also helped market sentiment.

In Tokyo, the broader capital-weighted TOPIX index finished just in the black, up 0.86 points or 0.09 percent to 984.04. Earlier in the day it topped 1000 for the first time since January 28,

Selected Japanese tech stocks and automakers were higher, but big banks eased after opening the day stronger.

Sony Corp was up 130 yen or 2.2 percent to 6050 yen, Kyocera added 460 yen or 6.1 percent to 7950 yen and mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo was steady at 1.44 million yen.

Computer and chipmakers Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba also were higher.

Banks easier

Among the banks, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group was down 19,000 yen or 2.3 percent to 805,000 yen, Mizuho Holdings dropped 14,000 yen or 5.7 percent to 232,000 yen and UFJ Holdings eased 4.4 percent to 280,000 yen.

Helping lift the market is a hope that the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will unveil fresh economic policy steps before he meets U.S. President George W. Bush in Tokyo next Monday.

"Investors are betting some sort of policy response (to tackle deflation and banks' bad loans) will emerge as early as today or as late as tomorrow," Masayoshi Okamoto, a trader at Jujiya Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Bush arrives in Japan Sunday and will meet Koizumi the following day. Japan's economic outlook and its shaky financial system is on the agenda.

In Seoul, the Kospi was up 56.52 points or 7.64 point to 796.18.

Tech issues including market heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom were among the big gainers, along with Kookmin Bank.

Hynix Semi slides


Korea was the best-performing market in Asia Thursday, with the Kospi up 7.6%

Samsung Electronics added 34,000 won or 10.6 percent to 355,000 won. SK Telecom was up 5 percent to 255,000 won and Kookmin Bank rose 10.3 percent to 60,900 won.

Hynix Semiconductor initially rose on reports Micron Technology would buy it for $4 million, but it then slipped to close down 6.3 percent at 2370 won after it said creditor approval for any Micron deal was still required.

Leading Korean automaker Hyundai Motor jumped 2600 won or 8.55 percent to 33,000 won.

In Australia, resources giant Rio Tinto rose to a record A$41.35, up 2 percent on a likely sale of some of its coal interests to MIM.

The other big resources player, BHP Billiton, closed up 24 cents or 2 percent to A$12.39 ahead of its results release. After the bell, it reported it lifted first-half profit 3.5 percent to $1.2 billion.

All of the four big banks, NAB, ANZ, Westpac and CBA closed higher, as did telco Telstra.

News Corp down

But market heavyweight News Corp, which on Wednesday reported a December quarter loss of $606 million after writedowns, continued to weaken. It was down 44 cents or 3.45 percent to A$12.33.

In New Zealand, the NZSE Top 40 eased 7.28 points or 0.35 percent to 2082.16.

Markets in the Philippines and Kuala Lumpur were also higher, while in Singapore, the Straits Times index was about 23 points higher at 1764.44 heading towards the close.

Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.