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Asian markets close higher
(CNN) -- Asian markets closed broadly higher Thursday as investors drew strength from Wall Street's gains and a promising debut in Japan for NEC Electronics. Taiwan posted the region's strongest gain, up almost 2.2 percent. South Korea put on 1 percent and New Zealand rose about 0.6 percent after its central bank delivered an expected interest rate cut. Australia and Hong Kong had small gains but Singapore slipped half a percent. In Tokyo, the key Nikkei 225 average finished up 0.58 percent to 9671.00. That follows its 1.5 percent gain Wednesday, when markets rose on news that Saddam Hussein's two sons had been killed in Iraq. Also helping Asian markets was another positive day on Wall Street Wednesday, led by gains for technology stocks. Tokyo's broader Topix index put on 0.43 percent to 945.27. NEC Electronics led the way with a gain of almost 30 percent over its initial offer price. (Full story) Big banks were also on the move, with Mizuho up 11 percent and SMFG and UFJ both adding about 6 percent. Steelmakers, which enjoyed strong gains on Wednesday, eased back. Nippon Steel was unchanged at 182 yen, JFE put on 0.7 percent to 2070 yen and Kobe Steel lost almost 2 percent to 105 yen. Mitsubishi Heavy and Kawasaki Heavy were up about 2 percent, down from bigger gains earlier in the day. Weighing on the Nikkei was an earnings report for consumer electronics leader Sony, which finished down 0.79 percent to 3760 yen. After the close, Sony, which shocked markets in April with a warning, posted a 98 percent drop in quarterly net profit. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, ended 0.38 percent higher to 267,000 yen, but parent NTT was about 0.6 percent lower. In Seoul, the Kospi finished 1.03 percent higher at 702.94 after the finance minister predicted growth would rebound to 5 percent next year. (Full story) SK Telecom, which plunged 8 percent Wednesday after saying it would buy SK Corp's 2.7 percent stake in steelmaker POSCO, recovered a little, up 1.8 percent to 195,500 won. POSCO was up 1.5 percent to 137,500 won and there were 3 percent-plus gains for Kookmin Bank and Shinhan financial group. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 ended virtually flat, up just 0.17 percent to 3090.7. Resources leader BHP Billiton closed up 2.1 percent to A$9.65 after posting production figures showing strong Chinese demand for iron ore. (Full story) Rival miner Rio Tinto, which reported a similar trend on Wednesday, was up 1.1 percent to A$31.58. But those gains were offset by a fall for market heavyweight, media group News Corp, which finished 0.77 percent lower at A$11.64. In Taiwan, the Taiex ended 2.17 percent ahead to 5402.75, led by chip foundry UMC, up 4 percent to T$25.70. TSMC was up 1.7 percent ahead of quarterly earnings. Other tech gainers were Hon Hai Precision, up 6.6 percent to T$160.00, and Asustek Computer, 7 percent higher at T$107.50. Hong Kong, which started trading half an hour later than normal because of a typhoon warning, finished up 0.23 percent, with the Hang Seng index at 9923.14. China Mobile added 0.25 percent. Telco PCCW, leading bank HSBC and conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa all finished unchanged. Singapore's Straits Times index slipped 0.49 percent to 1,549.25. Of the banks, OCBC put on almost 1 percent, while the others were largely unchanged. Electronics chip testing firm ST Assembly lost 3.1 percent to S$1.90. New Zealand's Top 50 finished 0.57 percent higher at 2162.18. Early on Thursday the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 5.0 percent. (Full story) The moves in Asia followed Wall Street's gains Wednesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq putting on 0.77 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average rising about 0.4 percent. (Full story)
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