Tokyo up, but Seoul weakens
(CNN) -- Japanese stocks are slightly higher at midday Friday, recovering a little of the previous day's 3 percent fall, but other Asian markets are down.
South Korea's Kospi is almost 2 percent lower after the nation's constitutional court overturned an impeachment vote against President Roh Moo-hyun.
Taiwan's Taiex is down about 1.6 percent as tech-related stocks fall.
Also weighing on markets is the continued high price of oil, which touched a record $41.17 a barrel for June delivery in after-hours trading in New York Thursday. (Full story)
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average has ended the morning session 0.71 percent higher at 10,901.64.
That follows its decline of almost 3 percent Thursday when it closed at 10,825.10, its worst finish since February 26.
The broader Topix index is up 0.37 percent to 1099.95 after falling 2.35 percent on Thursday.
There are solid gains for some techs, including NEC, Hitachi, Kyocera and Toshiba.
Among carmakers, Honda is 1.7 percent ahead to 4710 yen. But Toyota is down 0.26 percent and Nissan is more than 2 percent weaker at 1150 yen.
Another market heavyweight, mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo, is 1 percent higher to 195,000 yen.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is down 0.15 percent to 3365.5, despite gains for blue-chips News Corp. and BHP Billiton. Big banks are weaker, with ANZ off almost 3 percent.
Qantas Airways is up 1.23 percent to A$3.30, recovering some of Thursday's hefty decline.
In Seoul, the Kospi is down 1.95 percent to 774.70. Hyundai Motor is 1 percent in the red and Samsung Electronics is down 0.6 percent to 504,000 won.
One of the heaviest falls is for chip maker Hynix Semiconductor, down 4.8 percent to 11,850 won.
Taiwan's Taiex is 1.64 percent lower at 5820.74.
The market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, is 3.5 percent lower to T$55.00. UMC is down 2.5 percent to T$27.00
In Singapore, the Straits Times index is 0.64 percent lower to 1767.23.
In India, where Sonia Gandhi's Congress party has caused a huge upset in the national election, the Sensex 30 finished at 5399.47 Thursday for a modest gain. (Full story)
The moves in Asia follow a choppy performance on Wall Street Thursday. The Nasdaq rose 0.02 percent, but the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.34 percent to 10,010.74. (Full story)
