Nikkei gains despite sluggish GDP
TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average has closed in positive territory Wednesday, despite dipping in early trade after a fall on Wall Street.
The Nikkei finished 0.62 percent ahead to 10,941.37, following a 0.99 percent decline in the previous session. At the start of trade, the Nikkei fell 0.6 percent.
The broader TOPIX index closed with a gain of 0.55 percent to 1,099.69.
South Korea had the region's best performance, putting on 1.24 percent.
But Australia lost 0.76 percent and New Zealand ended 0.65 percent lower after a recent run of record highs.
Taiwan's Taiex was down 0.55 percent to 5892.51.
There are slight gains for Singapore heading toward the close, while Hong Kong is down about half a percent.
Tokyo's market reacted early in the day to data that confirmed sluggish economic growth in Japan for the latest quarter.
Revised gross domestic product (GDP) figures for July to September, released just before the open, showed growth of 0.1 percent from the previous quarter, unchanged from the preliminary estimate.
Among Japanese stocks, carmakers showed solid gains, with Honda up 1.8 percent, and Nissan and Toyota both about 1.5 percent ahead.
One of the market's biggest stock, mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo, finished up 1.64 percent to 186,000 yen. Other techs including Hitachi, Toshiba and NEC finished higher.
Big banks were mainly firmer, but moves were muted. Mizuho closed 0.66 percent higher at 458,000 yen. UFJ slipped half a percent.
In Seoul, the Kospi closed at 871.74, a gain of 1.24 percent. Samsung Electronics jumped 2 percent to 419,500 won and LG Electronics was almost 2.9 percent higher to 64,300 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX ended down 0.76 percent to 3897.7. Miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were both down more than 1 percent.
New Zealand's Top 50 slipped below 3,000, closing 0.65 percent lower at 2991.15.
On Wall Street Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 1 percent to close at 10,440.58. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.7 percent to 2114.66. (Full story)
