Tokyo bucks Asia's selloff with solid jump


The Nikkei had fallen below 10,000 at the end of July but closed above that level on Monday despite selling in the rest of Asia

By Alex Frew McMillan
CNN

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Tokyo bucked the selling that infected the rest of Asia on Monday to lock in solid gains.

The Nikkei 225 average remained steady through afternoon trade to end above 10,000 for the first time since July 30.

The Nikkei put on 2.03 percent to end at 10,067.74. The broader Topix built on its morning run to end up 1.86 percent at 981.22.

Gainers were otherwise few and far between, though smaller markets like the Philippines and Thailand posted rises.

Outside Tokyo, the major indexes were down, but not dramatically. Taiwan and South Korea lost a little over two-thirds of a percent.

Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand all dropped around a quarter of a percent. Singapore is off almost 1 percent heading to the close.

Banks power ahead in Tokyo

In Tokyo, traders said short-covering and buying in September futures contracts explained some of the gains.

Big-cap stocks were the beneficiaries, with NTT DoCoMo rising 2.67 percent to 269,000 yen.

Car companies locked in a strong day's performance, with Toyota Motor Co. up 2.32 percent to 3,090 yen. Honda gained 1.55 percent to 5,230 yen.

Banks were some of the strongest gainers, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group leading the yen gains with a 26,000 yen, or 3.23 percent, run to 832,000 yen.

Sumitomo Mitsui outdid that in percent terms, shooting ahead 3.88 percent to 642 yen.

Rounding out the "Big Four," Mizuho Holdings pushing forward 2.76 percent to 261,00 yen. UFJ Holdings shifted up 1.48 percent to 275,000 yen.

NEC was a notable decliner, down 1.43 percent to 691 yen. The company said it is developing a new DVD technology with Toshiba Corp. Toshiba rose 0.9 percent to 447 yen.

The blue-laser technology will put more data on a disc but not be compatible with a rival Sony Corp. platform. (Full story)

Chips and chip-equipment companies suffered after U.S. selling on Friday. Testing-equipment maker Tokyo Electron dropped 3.69 percent to 6,000 yen.

On Friday, both Nasdaq and the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 2 percent. But the selling was heaviest in the tech sector.(Full U.S. roundup)

Taiwan takes chip selling to heart

A chip selloff pushed the Philadelphia Semiconductor index down 5.9 percent and put pressure on Asia's chip-driven markets on Monday.

Taipei's main index, the Taiex, ended down 0.66 percent at 4,935.92. That broke two days of gains.


Japanese banks posted some of the strongest gains in Asia, with all of the Big Four putting on 1.5 percent or more

Chip foundries constitute the top two largest listings. TSMC fell 2.78 percent to T$52.50, while UMC shrank 2.26 percent to T$30.30.

Mosel Vitelic fell 3.5 percent to T$9.65 as it said its pretax loss would close to triple to T$5.87 billion, from an earlier estimate.

In South Korea, the Kospi was off 0.77 percent to 734.79, with chip stocks and exporters moving lower.

Chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor led the selling volume, off 8.6 percent to 530 won.

Rival Samsung Electronics dipped 1.3 percent to 340,500 won but continues to buy back shares.

Hyundai Motor fell 3.8 percent to 33,200 won after the Fair Trade Commission said the company had breached rules by disguising parts makers as part of its operations.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics was up again, gaining 4.20 percent to 54,800 won after it said last week it has won a $500 million supply deal from Intel Corp.

Daewoo Securities Co. dropped 6 percent to 6,600 won. The brokerage said an unauthorized person on Friday placed buy orders worth 26 billion won ($22 million) via an online corporate account and left without paying.

Woolworth's slumps in Sydney

In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 index ended down 0.24 percent at 3,176.9.

Woolworth's, the country's largest supermarket, put a heavy drag on the index with an 8.00 percent fall to A$11.50.

The company said net profit rose 18 percent to A$563 million ($304 million) for the business year. But operating results were not as strong as expected.

Qantas Airways fell 1.8 percent to A$4.35, still feeling the effects of a discount-stock sale last week.

News Corp. was down heavily after Friday's Wall Street showing, losing 3.15 percent to A$10.45 in Sydney.

Telstra gained 2.3 percent to A$4.98 ahead of its earnings on Wednesday.

Bank Westpac held up despite the selloff, ending flat at A$15.63 as the company said it was paying A$900 million ($486 million) for BT Financial Corp. (Full story).

New Zealand's Top 40 ended down 0.29 percent at 2,049.48. Telecom New Zealand made up around a quarter of the volume, falling 1.19 percent to NZ$4.96.

Bank of China flat ahead of results

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng ended down 0.19 percent at 10,226.33. Turnover was very light.

Big caps such as bank stock HSBC were generally lower, HSBC dipping 0.28 percent to HK$89.00.

Cheung Kong Holdings fell 0.43 percent to HK$58.25, having risen after its earnings last week.

Major U.S. exporters saw the largest selloff, small-motor maker Johnson Electric dropping 2.44 percent to HK$8.00. Li & Fung declined 2.7 percent to HK$9.00.

The Bank of China Hong Kong ended flat at HK$8.65, just above its July IPO price of HK$8.50, ahead of its first-half results on Tuesday.

Datacraft still hurt in Singapore

Singapore's Straits Times index is down 0.84 percent at 1,519.10 heading into the close.

After falling 14 percent on Friday, Datacraft Asia is down 7.6 percent at S$0.855. On Thursday, it confirmed the Commercial Affairs Department is investigating the company.

That white-collar crime unit has not said what the probe involves. But it is believed to focus on possible insider trading.

Singapore Airlines is down 1.65 percent at S$11.90 despite reaching an agreement with its pilots over rest breaks at the end of last week.