Banks wobble, but Nikkei up
(CNN) -- Japanese stocks closed slightly higher Friday, reversing early falls in line with Wall Street's decline.
But most of the big banks wobbled to close in the red, and troubed carmaker Mitsubishi Motors hit a record low.
Other Asian markets were mainly higher, with good gains in South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, which closed at a record high.
Taiwan, which rose early in the day, finished down about 0.7 percent.
Singapore is just in the black.
The Nikkei 225 stock average finished 0.24 percent higher at 11,436.00. On Thursday, the benchmark rose 0.46 percent.
The broader Topix index of all first section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's ended unchanged at 1151.16. The Topix dipped just 0.03 percent on Thursday.
Stocks opened lower across the board in Tokyo, with some high technology and automaker issues under pressure. But the trend turned in afternoon trade.
Japanese bank UFJ and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, which were expected to announce the start of merger talks late Friday, closed in the red.
UFJ lost 2.6 percent to 475,000 yen and MTFG tumbled 8.7 percent to 1.05 million yen after big gains earlier in the week.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which reportedly will seek a court injunction to block the merger talks, ended down 1 percent to 719,000 yen. (Full story)
In the auto sector, Nissan, Honda and Toyota all ended in the red. Mitsubishi Motors plunged 17.5 percent to a record low of 113 yen as Phoenix Capital completed a capital injection and became the carmaker's largest shareholder.
Advantest and Tokyo Electron finished higher, but consumer-related stocks such as Sony and Canon were down. NTT DoCoMo was 1.1 percent lower to 180,000 yen.
The dollar was quoted at 109.63 yen in Tokyo Friday afternoon, compared with the 109.77 yen it bought in New York late Thursday.
South Korea higher
Elsewhere in Asia, the Kospi in South Korea was up 0.91 percent to 739.39, recovering slightly from heavy falls earlier this week.
The market's biggest stock, Samsung Electronics, jumped 3.5 percent to 423,000 won after posting strong quarterly earnings. (Full story)
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.14 percent to 3531.0. On Wednesday it ended down more than 1 percent to 3522.8, its biggest one-day fall since May 10.
Media group News Corp put on 1 percent to A$12.30, but leading bank NAB continued to drift, losing another 0.4 percent to A$28.34 after a shock profit warning earlier in the week. (Full story)
Taiwan's Taiex ended 0.73 percent lower at 5502.14. Chipmaker TSMC lost 1.1 percent to T$42.50.
New Zealand's Top 50 was up 0.61 percent to finish at a record high of 2709.80. Telecom NZ was 0.9 percent ahead to NZ$5.91.
Singapore's Straits Times index is ahead 0.3 to 1873.25 near the close.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is up about 1 percent to 12,059.20, with a gain of 1.5 percent to HK$52.50 for Hutchison Whampoa.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.4 percent to 10,163.16 Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.1 percent to 1,912.71. (Full story)
