S. Korea and HK power ahead
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Japan's Ashikaga Bank may be the subject of a government rescue.
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(CNN) -- Asian markets closed mainly higher Friday, with Tokyo down on weak output figures. But there were big gains for South Korea and Hong Kong, which put on 1.85 percent and 2.0 percent respectively.
Taiwan's Taiex, which dropped more than 2 percent Thursday on investor nervousness about relations with mainland China, closed about half a percent higher.
That came after Taiwan's parliament passed watered-down legislation allowing the island to hold referendums on some sensitive issues. (Full story)
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average finished down 0.62 percent to 10,100.57. That followed its 0.18 percent gain Thursday.
The broader Topix fell 0.63 percent to 999.75. It has put on about 5 percent since hitting a three-month low on Wednesday last week.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 2 percent and the Kospi in Seoul put on 1.85 percent.
The market in Australia ended flat, New Zealand rose 0.3 percent and there were solid gains for Singapore.
In Tokyo, big banks were initially higher, but with the exception of Mizuho Financial Group, faded into the red by the close. That came after reports of a possible government bailout for the struggling regional bank Ashikaga Financial Group.
Mizuho, which jumped 9 percent Thursday, was up another 1.8 percent to 286,000 yen. UFJ Holdings ended down 0.85 percent at 468,000 yen after being up 5 percent earlier in the day.
SMFG fell 2.7 percent and Resona -- itself the subject of a government bailout in June -- also lost 2 percent. MTFG was down slightly, off 0.24 percent to 818,000 yen.
Reuters news agency quoted a government source as saying an emergency meeting would be held soon to consider injecting public funds into Ashikaga after an inspection showed the bank had negative net worth.
Before the start of trade, the government said Japan's industrial production rose 0.8 percent in October from a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, worse than a median forecast of a 1.9 percent.
Other data showed Japan's jobless rate rose to 5.2 percent in October, up from 5.1 percent a month earlier.
Tech-related shares were mainly lower, with falls of 3.3 percent for Hitachi and 2 percent for NEC Electronics. Tokyo Electron, Advantest, Fujitsu and Matsushita Electric Industrial were all in the red.
But Toshiba was up, putting on 1.25 percent to 404 yen, and Kyocera also rose slightly. Consumer electronics leader Sony was up 0.26 percent to 3800 yen.
NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, ended 1.67 percent lower to 236,000 yen.
In Seoul, the Kospi closed 1.85 percent higher to 796.18, buoyed by 2 percent gains for Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom and Hyundai Motor.
LG Card, which has plunged in recent days, ended 7.1 percent higher to 6300 won and Woori Finance rose 8.4 percent to 7100 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 edged 0.02 percent into the black to 3186.4. There were solid gains for Telstra and media group News Corp.
BHP Billiton, which said Friday it would drop its quarterly financial reports, rose 0.8 percent to A$11.27. (Full story)
Big banks NAB, Westpac and CBA were all down about 1 percent.
In Taiwan, the Taiex ended 0.54 percent higher to 5771.77.
Market heavyweight TSMC was 0.8 percent higher to T$63.50. UMC was up 2 percent, and Formosa Plastic rose 1 percent.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index rose 1.04 percent to 1,714.00, posting their fourth day of gains amid signs of an accelerating economy.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished strongly to post a gain of 2 percent to 12,317.47. It was helped by solid gains for HSBC and Hutchison Whampoa. China Mobile put on 3.2 percent to HK$22.50.
Wall Street was closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will trade for half a day on Friday.
