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Japan, Korea close higher
(CNN) -- Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday, with Japanese shares higher after an encouraging result in the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey. South Korea also posted a gain, but Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand finishing in the red. Singapore was flat while markets in Hong Kong and China were closed for a national holiday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average ended 1.39 percent higher at 10,361.24 after dipping in mid-morning trade. That followed Tuesday's slight fall and a retreat in U.S. stocks overnight. The broader Topix index also recovered from early falls to finish 1.09 percent higher at 1029.94. Big banks were again the top gainers. Mizuho, which surged more than 10 percent on Tuesday, jumped another 16 percent to 290,000 yen on expectations of better earnings prospects. UFJ was up 11.4 percent to 489,000 yen, while MTFG finished 14 percent higher to 805,000 yen and SMFG put on 11 percent to 500,000 yen. Tech bellwether Advantest ended 3 percent higher at 7630 yen. But shares of some exporters were under pressure. Among carmakers, Honda ended down 1.3 percent to 4410 yen and Nissan was off a quarter of a percent to 1202 yen. Toyota rose 1.8 percent to 3340 yen. Consumer electronics leader Sony fell 1.5 percent to 3840 yen. Canon, Toshiba and NEC were also lower. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, closed 2.2 percent lower at 267,000 yen, after announcing it had signed up 1 million subscribers to its 3G service. (Full story) Rival KDDI, which has more 3G subscribers, jumped 4 percent to 590,000 yen and Japan Telecom was up 3.3 percent to 341,000 yen. Vodafone, the majority shareholder in Japan Telecom, agreed in August to a leveraged buyout of the fixed-line business by U.S. fund Ripplewood Holdings. Ripplewood said Wednesday four other companies had agreed to invest in the business. The Bank of Japan's closely watched tankan survey, released before the market opened, showed a rise in business confidence among large manufacturers. The diffusion index of business sentiment was plus 1 in September, up from minus 5 in June and ahead of expectations of a zero reading. (Full story) The dollar is trading at 111.21 late in the Asian day after Japan's Finance Ministry intervened Tuesday to stop the yen from strengthening too much. Elsewhere in the region, South Korea's Kospi recovered from an early fall to finish 1 percent higher to 704.29. SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics posted good gains, while big exporter Hyundai Motor turned a 2.5 percent decline into a 1.5 percent gain by the close, ending at 33,550 won. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was 0.32 percent lower to 3159.2. Market heavyweight News Corp was off 1.8 percent to A$11.80, in line with falls in U.S. stocks. Big resources group BHP Billiton dropped 3 percent to A$10.24. Singapore's Straits Times index ended flat at 1630.72. Big bank OCBC was up 0.89 percent. Venture Corp fell 3.0 percent and City Developments lost 0.98 percent to S$19.40 and S$5.05 respectively. In Taiwan, the Taiex finished 0.53 percent lower to 5581.66, with Formosa Plastic off 1.85 percent. The market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, was steady at T$66.50. The moves in Asia follow a down day Tuesday for Wall Street, where the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 1.1 percent to 9275.06. (Full story)
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