Markets in Japan, Australia end higher


Carmakers including Honda rose Monday, helped by the recent weakness in the yen

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks closed higher Monday as the market brushed off the Bank of Japan's latest tankan survey confirming the country is falling into recession.

Carmakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda led the way, helped by the recent weakness in the yen.

Bank stocks were also higher, as was mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo, which launched the world's first commercial 3G service Monday.

Earlier in the day, gloomy profit expectations put pressure on the Japanese market, with tech stocks Sony, Toshiba and NEC well down.

But investor sentiment picked up as the day wore on, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index ending at 9972.28, for a gain of 197.6 points or 2 percent.

It touched a low of 9604.09 in the morning.

Topix posts 2.3 percent gain

The broader, capital-weighted TOPIX index also strengthened throughout the day, moving out of the red to close 23.61 points or 2.3 percent higher at 1047.03.

Elsewhere in the region, markets in Australia and Singapore were higher, led respectively by BHP Billiton and Singapore Airlines, while New Zealand ended down as shares in Air New Zealand remained suspended.

Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were also lower.

Markets were closed Monday in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China for the thanksgiving and moon festivals.

In Japan, the tankan's headline diffusion index for large manufacturers came in at minus 33 in the September quarter, down 17 points from minus 16 in the previous survey and worse than economists' forecasts of minus 28.

Sony slips on profit outlook

Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp ended 290 yen or 6.6 percent lower at 4100 yen.

After the close on Friday, Sony cut its group net profit forecast by 89 percent to 10 billion yen ($84 million) for the year to March 2002 due to restructuring charges and slumping sales in the U.S., which account for 30 percent of its total.

NEC Corp lost 2.9 percent to 945 yen, extending Friday's 8.81 percent loss.

That came after the world's third-largest chipmaker projected a 150 billion yen net loss for the current business year, compared with an original forecast of a 65 billion yen profit.

Toshiba lost almost 4 percent to finish down 18 yen at 438 yen.

Losses were kept in check by Wall Street's performance last Friday where the U.S. Nasdaq put on 2.61 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.91 percent.

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc, Japan's third-largest banking group, rose 3.12 percent to 959,000 yen after it said late on Friday that it expects a group net loss of 70 billion yen for the six months ended September 30, cutting its May prediction of a 150 billion yen group net profit.

MTFG said it would post a massive appraisal loss of 417 billion yen from the steep fall in Tokyo stock prices.

Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, put on 1.7 percent or 8000 yen to 468,000 yen.

DoCoMo adds 6.8% on 3G launch day


DoCoMo shares surged more than 6.8 percent Monday as the company launched the world's first commercial 3G service

NTT DoCoMo, Japan's dominant mobile phone carrier, put on 110,000 yen or 6.8 percent to 1.72 million yen.

DoCoMo's stock has gained about 30 percent since the U.S. air attacks last month. Telecommunications rival KDDI lost 8.9 percent or 29,000 yen to 297,000 yen.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up strongly, putting on 49.4 points or 1.6 percent to 3098.9, with market heavyweights News Corp, BHP, Telstra and National Australia Bank leading the way.

BHP added 21 cents or 2.45 percent to A$8.79, while News was up 3 percent to A$12.77.

In New Zealand the Top 40 eased during the day, slipping from 1.26 points higher to fall 21.54 points into the red at 1837.28 for a loss of 1.1 percent.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index was up 1.4 percent or 19.02 points to 1338.55 just before the close. Singapore Airlines put on 35 cents or 4.3 percent to S$8.35.