Asian stocks sustain rally into afternoon


Asian markets arrested Wednesday slide and reversed it, though they are not matching Wall Street's historic run

By Alex Frew McMillan

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Asian markets rallied almost across the board in Thursday morning trade, and are higher as afternoon sessions set off.

South Korea is leading the way with the Kospi up 1.84 percent to 734.71 in early afternoon. But Seoul stocks are giving back some of their early headway.

Both Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Tokyo's Nikkei indexes broke back above 10,000 at their noon breaks.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei broke for lunch up 0.79 percent at 10,026.35. It was up more than 2 percent at times in the morning and is up 1.2 percent as p.m. trade begins.

On Wednesday, the index lost 2.62 percent to end below 10,000 for the first time since February. It closed at 9,947.72, amid a hefty Asian selloff (full story).

The Topix went into the Thursday noon break up 0.33 percent at 10,166.68. It is also a little stronger, up 0.46 percent, in afternoon trade.

Cautious ahead of earnings

NTT DoCoMo is up 1.99 percent at 256,000 yen in early afternoon. It's the largest listing in Tokyo.

But investors are cautious ahead of earnings from Sony Corp. and NEC Corp. Sony is up 0.95 percent at 5,330 yen.


Taiwanese investors discuss stocks, with the chip-driven Taipei and Seoul markets both up solidly on Thursday

Banks are off, Mizuho Holdings down 3.1 percent at 285,000 yen in early afternoon.

Toyota Motor ended the morning down 2.8 percent to 2,800 yen as the yen threatens exports again.

The yen is a little stronger against the dollar, at 116.36 in early afternoon Tokyo trade. The won is at 1,167.5 in Seoul trade.

Japan's retail sales for June showed little boost from the World Cup (full story).

Kospi outperforming region

Seoul's Kospi is up 1.84 percent at 734.71 in early afternoon, having risen more than 4 percent just after the open.

Samsung Electronics is up 2.84 percent at 34,4500 won. SK Telecom is ahead 2.31 percent to 244,000 won. Both attract heavy domestic and international buying.


These men watched Chinese stocks gain from their vantage at a securities firm, but the Bank of China had a lackluster start in Hong Kong

Rival consumer electronics company LG Electronics is also ahead 0.65 percent at 45,800 after getting an investment pledge from LGEI.

Taiwan's Taiex is up 0.8 percent to 5,079.78. TSMC is up 0.85 percent at T$59.00. Rival UMC is up 1.1 percent to T$36.70.

Both benefited from improved confidence a 4.98 percent climb by Nasdaq overnight.

U.S. stocks in general staged a remarkable rally, the Dow closing up 6.35 percent. The S&P 500 shot up 5.73 percent.

The Dow's 489 point gain was the second-biggest in history (full U.S. roundup).

That carried through to Asia, but the region is not matching that rally, having resisted most of this week's selling.

Australia boosted by Telstra

In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 index is up 1.65 percent at 3,067.0. That's a solid clawback of Wednesday's losses, the largest since September.

Telstra is the heaviest traded stock, up 1.3 percent at A$4.82 on improved telecom sentiment.

Retailer Coles Myer is up 1.7 percent at A$6.54 in early afternoon. Grocery-store leader Woolworths is up 2.2 percent to A$12.19 on a strong day for companies that get most of their sales within Australia.

Across the Tasman, Telecom New Zealand is close to matching Telstra with a 1.06 percent at NZ$4.77.

New Zealand's Top 40 is up 1.01 percent at 1,994.51. Carter Holt Harvey, the second largest listing, is making back most of its Wednesday slide.

Bank of China not off to auspicious start

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 0.85 percent at 10,056.54. The market's largest listing, bank HSBC, climbed 0.59 percent to HK$84.75.

On Wednesday, it sold off 3.4 percent, a particularly heavily drop for that specific listing, after heavy bank selling the day before in the United States.

One of Hong Kong's highest-profile initial public offerings is off to a lackluster start.

The Bank of China Hong Kong, the city's second-biggest bank, ended the morning down 3.0 percent from its debut price of HK$8.50.

Hong Kong's mobile-phone plays are up after heavy losses on Wednesday. China Mobile is ahead 0.72 percent at HK$21.05. China Unicom is up 0.92 percent at HK$5.50.

Singapore's Straits Times is up 0.95 percent at 1,537.25, benefiting from a run in techs such as Creative Technology, up 2.96 percent to S$17.40.