Japan takes Asia to higher close
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Sharp closed higher Monday on a report it will expand LCD output.
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(CNN) -- Japan led Asian stocks to a mainly higher close Monday following modest gains on Wall Street Friday. But Taiwan and Hong Kong eased.
Japanese banking stocks were among the biggest gainers.
Tech-related issues also were higher, following a report that Sharp, the world's biggest maker of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), will spend more than $800 million to boost production capacity next year.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 average closed up 0.8 percent at 10,500.62, after going as high as 10,574 earlier in the day. It was its first finish above 10,500 in almost four weeks.
The broader Topix put on 0.76 percent to 1,026.24, extending the previous session's 0.55 percent gain.
Markets in South Korea, Singapore and Australia were also firmer, but Hong Kong and Taiwan were in the red. New Zealand was flat, down just 0.01 percent.
The dollar is trading weaker at 107.08 yen in Asia late on Monday afternoon. The Australian dollar is continuing to trade near six-year highs and is quoted at 74.24 U.S. cents.
In a shortened trading session Friday, Wall Street finished slightly higher, with the Dow putting on 0.19 percent to 10,324.67 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rising 0.2 percent to 1973.14. (Full story)
In Tokyo on Monday, there were gains for consumer electronics makers such as Sony and Toshiba. Fujitsu and Hitachi were also up. Mitsubishi Electric put on almost 2 percent to 436 yen.
Sharp closed 1.58 percent higher to 1673 yen after the Nihon Keizai newspaper said it will invest about 90 billion yen ($839.1 million) in early 2004 to triple the planned production capacity of large LCD panels at its Kameyama plant in western Japan.
The increased spending will bring Sharp's total investment in the facility to around 200 billion yen and will allow the site to produce the equivalent of 360,000 30-inch LCD televisions a month, the paper said.
Automaker Honda put on 0.65 percent to 4630 yen. But Nissan and Toyota both finished in the red.
The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DocoMo, closed 0.4 percent lower at 233,000 yen.
Big banks were sharply higher, with Mizuho up 4 percent to 314,000 yen and MTFG up 3.7 percent to 817,000 yen. SMFG rose 2.4 percent and UFJ ended 0.6 percent higher to 491,000 yen.
In Seoul, the Kospi put on 0.46 percent to 792.44 after a shaky start. That follows release of government data Monday showing South Korea's industrial output fell slightly in November after three months of gains.
Samsung Electronics ended down slightly at 440,000 won, but big exporter Hyundai Motor jumped 4.4 percent to 49,700 won.
SK Telecom fell 1.76 percent, while Shinhan Financial Group recovered from early losses to finish 1.37 percent higher at 18,550 won.
LG Card and KEB Credit were both down sharply on worries about the credit card industry. (Full story)
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 put on 0.5 percent to 3281.8. Big resources company BHP Billiton finished ahead 0.75 percent to A$12.16, and there were smaller gains for Telstra and Qantas.
Leading bank NAB moved in and out of the red before finishing with a slight gain of 0.1 percent.
Market heavyweight News Corp was down early, but closed 0.17 percent higher to A$11.90.
In Taiwan, the Taiex ended down 0.89 percent to 5804.89. The market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, was steady at T$62.00. UMC and Formosa Plastic both ended in the red.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is 0.6 percent lower to 12,381.33, with falls for China Mobile and Hutchison Whampoa. But China Life is up 4 percent to HK$6.05.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index is 0.75 percent ahead to 1743.14, with Singapore Airlines up 0.9 percent and SingTel steady.
