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Tokyo closes lower, Korea, HK higher
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower on Monday, but most other Asian markets finished higher, led by gains in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. The Nikkei 225 average dipped 0.45 percent to 9,174.47 after going above 9,200 during the day. The Nikkei hit a two-month closing high on Friday of 9,215.56. The broader Topix index lost 0.49 percent to 888.30, with two big banks off sharply. Seoul's Kospi put on 0.74 percent to 730.16, Australia's S&P/ASX200 rose 0.73 percent to 3,083.8 and Taiwan's Taiex added 0.79 percent to 4,683.18. Hong Kong closed up 1.3 percent at 10,205.16, and Singapore ended up 0.38 percent after an early decline that exchange officials blamed on data errors. India's BSE30 is up about 1 percent in afternoon trade, while New Zealand closed narrowly in the red. U.S. stocks fell on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average surrendering 0.4 percent to 8,896.09. Nasdaq fell 0.62 percent. But they were up for the eighth straight week. (Full story) Chips dip in Tokyo
In Japan, chips and telecom stocks weakened, with Toshiba down 3.01 percent to 387 yen and Mitsubishi Electric off 3.16 percent to 337 yen. NEC, which hit a two-month high on Friday, eased 1.53 percent to 515 yen. NTT DoCoMo and parent NTT finished slightly in the red. So did Japan Telecom, which will launch its J-Phone 3G service this month. (Full story) Bank stocks were mixed after Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka brought out a timetable on Friday that aims to clean up the banking industry by March 2005. (Full story) Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group put on 2.43 percent to 758,000 yen, but Mizuho Holdings lost 4.38 percent to 131,000 yen and UFJ Holdings dropped 4.76 percent to 120,000 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, making its debut as the new holding company for Big Four bank Sumitomo Mitsui, closed at 432,000 yen. Mizuho and UFJ are creditors of Daiei Inc., which held an extraordinary meeting of its shareholders on Monday to discuss its debt-reduction plans. (Full story) Advertising giant Dentsu fell 4.81 percent to 376,000 yen on a report that three other top agencies plan to pool their operations. Automakers, led by Toyota, finished mainly higher. Australia finishes higherIn Australia, market heavyweight News Corp. rose 2.2 percent to A$12.98. Big miners BHP Billiton also finished higher, as did the four big banks NAB, CBA, ANZ and Westpac. But telecom stock Telstra, second only to News in market cap, eased 0.44 percent to A$4.55. Investors will get a better picture of Australia's prospects on Wednesday, when its third quarter growth figures are due. Hutchison Telecom shares soared 30.4 percent to A$0.30, after the Hutchison Whampoa subsidiary said it will outsource operation of its cell-phone networks to Ericsson for seven years. (Full story) Coles Myer was flat at A$6.57 after saying its Officeworks subsidiary will buy U.S. retailer Office Depot's operations in Australia. New Zealand's Top 40 ended off 0.08 percent to 1,952.46, with Telecom New Zealand down 1.66 percent to NZ$4.75 after it paid its dividend. Hong Kong gets growth boostIn Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ended with the strongest gains in Asia, up 1.3 percent. On Friday, Hong Kong reported better than expected GDP growth figures for the third quarter. (Full story) Bank stock HSBC finished up 1.09 percent to HK$92.50 and Cheung Kong Holdings closed up 1.31 percent to HK$58.00. Hutchison Whampoa stock gained 0.91 percent to HK$55.25 after its subsidiary's announcement in Australia. Bank of China Hong Kong closed down 1.73 percent to HK$8.50, while retailer Esprit Holdings dipped 0.34 percent to HK$14.45. Both stocks became part of the 33-stock Hang Seng as of Monday and had risen as fund managers adjusted their holdings to include them. LG at heart of Seoul tradeIn South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.74 percent, with trading heavy in LG Group member companies. LG Electronics rose 2.78 percent to 49,850 won.
A report suggested up to four fixed-line phone companies may merge under the LG umbrella to challenge industry leader KT Corp. KT, a former monopoly, finished slightly ahead, up 0.8 percent to 52,900 won. SK Telecom was unchanged at 248,500 won. Banks were active, with Cho Hung up 6.9 percent after the government delayed its privatization. (Full story) Steel maker Posco rose 2.01 percent to 127,000 won. Taiwan's techs surgeTaiwan's Taiex added 0.79 percent, with strong tech gains. Flat-screen maker Au Optronics rose 3 percent to T$24.10, while Macronix jumped 5 percent to T$14.60. Chip foundries TSMC and UMC both rose about 3 percent and computer maker Acer was up 6.7 percent to T$33.30. Quanta and Asustek had strong gains of more than 4 percent. Singapore's Straits Times index closed with a gain of 0.38 percent at 1,396.81. Chartered Semiconductor topped the volume with a 1.75 percent slip to S$1.12. Bank OCBC lost 1.00 percent to S$9.90 and Singapore Airlines ended off 0.93 percent to S$10.60. The index had earlier shown losses approaching 4 percent but officials said they were generated by a technical error.
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