Techs push Asia to higher close
(CNN) -- Asian stocks closed broadly higher Wednesday, helped by a recovery among U.S. technology stocks on Wall Street.
South Korea led the way with a gain of more than 2 percent, lifted by Samsung Electronics.
In Taiwan, chip foundry TSMC rose more than 4 percent, and New Zealand's market closed at a record high.
The U.S. dollar was steady against the Japanese yen.
The Nikkei 225 stock average finished the day up 1.56 percent to 11,433.86, helped by a sharp rise for NTT DoCoMo. On Tuesday, the benchmark fell 1.55 percent.
The broader Topix index of all first section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section rose 1.25 percent to 1153.76. The Topix fell 1.01 percent on Tuesday.
A strong start by technology stocks gave momentum to the Nikkei, which opened with most issues trading slightly higher.
Fujitsu and Hitachi both finished about 3 percent higher and Kyocera rose 2.5 percent. Market heavyweight NTT DoCoMo jumped 4.6 percent to 181,000 yen.
In the automotive sector, Honda closed 2.2 percent higher to 5100 yen.
Big banks were slightly easier in the morning session but Mizuho recovered to finish 0.46 percent higher at 441,000 yen. UFJ rose 0.22 percent to 447,000 yen. MTFG closed 0.9 percent lower to 1.1 million yen.
In Seoul, the Kospi ended 2.21 percent ahead to 7523.32. Samsung Electronics put on 3 percent to 429,500 won, but leading exporter Hyundai Motor gave up early gains to finish just in the red, off 0.34 percent to 44,300 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 closed up 0.59 percent to 3524.0. Media group News Corp and resources leader BHP Billiton were both ahead about 1.5 percent. But Telstra ended in the red.
New Zealand's Top 50 closed at a record high, up 0.34 percent to 2743.67. Telecom NZ finished 1.5 percent ahead to NZ$6.08.
In Taiwan, the Taiex closed 1.57 percent higher to 5409.13 as the country conducted its own war games in response to Chinese exercises. (Full story)
Leading chipmaker TSMC jumped 4.6 percent to T$43.40.
Singapore's Straits Times index is 0.55 percent ahead to 1875.57 heading towards the close.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is 1.7 percent higher at 12,338.90. Hutchison Whampoa is up 1.9 percent to HK$53.50 and leading bank HSBC is 0.87 percent ahead to HK$116.00.
In New York Tuesday, a bullish assessment of the economy by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan helped push stocks higher.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.6 percent to 10,149.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index advanced 1.8 percent to 1,917.07. (Full story)
The dollar was quoted at 108.65 yen in Tokyo Wednesday afternoon, virtually on a par with the 108.64 yen it bought in New York Tuesday.
