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Asia finishes week on a high
(CNN) -- Asian markets finished the week broadly higher Friday, with Tokyo shares continuing to gain as investors anticipated a further recovery in the Japanese economy. Exporters like Sony and carmaker Nissan were up, as were the big Japanese banks. The Nikkei 225 average ended 1.09 percent higher to 10,709.29, its best close since September 19. That follows its 2.24 percent jump on Thursday. The broader Topix index was up 0.91 percent to 1066.86. On Thursday it surged 2.65 percent. Other markets in the region also rose, with Singapore doing best with a gain of 1.6 percent -- a 16 month high. Taiwan's Taiex was up about 0.8 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended 0.54 percent ahead and New Zealand's Top 50 finished 0.64 percent higher. Australia ended virtually flat, with the S&P/ASX200 up just 0.12 percent. South Korea's market was closed Friday for a national holiday, as was China. The moves in Asia came after a quiet day Thursday on Wall Street, where there were modest gains of about 0.2 percent each for the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite and the Dow Jones industrial average. (Full story) The gains in Japan also followed a strong reading on Wednesday from the Bank of Japan's tankan survey, with big manufacturers showing the most optimism about the business outlook in almost three years. That helped exporters, pushing consumer electronics leader Sony 2 percent higher to 3980 yen. Canon was up 2.4 percent to 5470 yen and Kyocera rose 3.3 percent to 6920 yen. Among Japan's three biggest carmakers, Toyota and Nissan were higher but Honda gave up early gains to finish 0.67 percent lower at 4480 yen. A big focus for the market was the appreciation of the yen, which rose to 110.45 against the dollar late in the Asian day. The Japanese authorities are believed to have spent up to $40 billion in recent weeks to stop the yen firming too much. A strong yen hurts exporters who rely heavily on sales in the United States. Tokyo-based economist David Satterwhite of the Economist Corporate Network told CNN Friday that the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan would continue to intervene on the currency front in an effort to weaken the yen to about 115 -- a rate regarded as viable for most Japanese exporters. "We're going to see continued and hefty intervention," Satterwhite said, noting the Japanese authorities "could not afford to stop intervening at this point." In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial Group rose another 1.68 percent to 303,000 yen. UFJ ended 4.15 percent ahead to 527,000 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Japan's second-biggest bank by assets, put on 3.7 percent to 528,000 yen. It rose 18 percent in the previous five days. Big retailer Ito-Yokado was in the red, down 3.8 percent to 4060 yen. Tech-related issues Fujitsu and Toshiba also finished slightly lower. The market's biggest stock, NTT DoCoMo, was up 0.7 percent to 281,000 yen. Elsewhere in the region, Singapore's Straits Times index ended up 1.6 percent to 1670.30 -- its highest close since May 31, 2002. Big bank DBS gained 2.26 percent to S$13.60, while OCBC and UOB put on 1.77 and 0.75 percent respectively. SingTel was 2.4 percent higher at S$1.74 after it said it will sell its 12.15 percent stake in Belgian phone company Belgacom ahead of a public offering next year. (Full story) In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index finished at 11,608.72, a gain of 0.54 percent. Blue chips HSBC, Hutchison Whampoa and China Mobile were all higher. In Australia, the S&P/ASX ended flat at 3203.3. Telstra was up 3.3 percent to A$4.99 after announcing details of its share buyback plan. (Full story) Resources giant BHP Billiton was 1.6 percent higher to A$10.65. In Taiwan, the Taiex closed at 5747.79, a gain of 0.84 percent. Market heavyweight TSMC was up 2.2 percent to T$70.00. Rival chip foundry UMC was 1 percent higher to T$29.50.
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