Japan finds room to run
 | |  Japanese carmaker Toyota ended higher Tuesday after an early fall. |
|
(CNN) -- Japanese stocks have closed higher Tuesday as investors decide there is still some room for the market to run.
The Nikkei and Topix are now both at or near 21-month highs.
Markets in Australia, Taiwan and New Zealand also posted gains Tuesday, but South Korea finished in the red.
Singapore is steady and Hong Kong is down 0.6 percent near the close.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average finished 0.25 percent ahead to 11,532.04 after dipping in early trade.
That puts it just five points below Friday's 21-month closing high. On Monday the index tumbled late in the day after earlier pushing above 11,600.
The Topix index put on another 0.2 percent to end at 1134.34, its highest since June 2002.
Investors in Tokyo were disappointed by Tuesday's lower than expected machinery data, seen as a pointer to the pace of Japan's economic recovery. But the mood recovered by the close.
A halt in the dollar's advance against the yen and a lower finish for Wall Street stocks also held the market back at the start.
Big exporter shares such as Toyota Motor came back from early falls, with Toyota ending half a percent higher to 3950 yen and Honda up 1 percent to 5080 yen.
Consumer electronics leader Sony was down 0.43 percent to 4600 yen.
Big banks were up sharply, led by a 4 percent gain for Mizuho and 2 percent rises for UFJ and SMFG.
Among techs, Kyocera rose 1.77 percent to 8620 yen, but NEC, Fujitsu, Toshiba and Hitachi were all down about 2 percent
West Japan Railway put on half a percent to 422,000 yen after the government said it would sell its 31 percent stake at 411,000 yen. (Full story)
Among among gainers was Kirin Brewery, up 1.7 percent to 1061 yen.
The dollar is trading at 111.27 yen in late Tokyo trade.
The U.S. currency retreated against the yen in New York on Monday amid market rumours that Japan had stopped buying after suspected heavy intervention earlier in the day.
In Seoul, the Kospi lost 0.95 percent to 891.58, with Samsung Electronics again falling. It dropped 1.8 percent to 539,000 won.
Big exporter Hyundai Motor also faltered, closing 2.5 percent lower at 49,600 won.
Taiwan's Taiex was the region's biggest winner, closing with a gain of 1.05 percent to 6973.90.
Market heavyweight TSMC slipped 0.76 percent to T$65.50, while UMC rose 0.3 percent to T433.50.
Australia's S&P/ASX200 ended 0.14 percent ahead to 3424.9. Telstra fell another 0.4 percent to A$4.70 after Monday's decline.
News Corp slipped 1.8 percent to A$12.06 and BHP Billiton was about 0.5 percent lower.
New Zealand's Top 50 put on 0.66 percent to 2494.57, helped by a gain of 1.6 percent for Telecom NZ.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is about 0.6 percent lower, with falls for Hutchison Whampoa and HSBC.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index is steady, up just 0.1 percent to 1889.98.
The moves in Asia follow declines on Wall Street Monday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 1.9 percent and the Dow off about 0.6 percent. (Wall Street
)
