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Asian stocks push higher
TOKYO, Japan -- Asian markets are moving higher on Tuesday afternoon, with bargain chasers in Japan pushing the Nikkei above the 20-year closing low it reached on Monday. The Nikkei 225 average is up 0.94 percent to 7824.73 at the end of the morning session. The broader Topix index is up 1.14 percent to 784.48, with blue chips Sony and Toyota among the biggest gainers. Other Asian markets are also firmly in the black, with South Korea's Kospi doing best. It is up about 1.5 percent. Australia is up about half a percent and New Zealand is 0.85 percent higher. Hong Kong and Singapore, two of the region's transportation hubs, are modestly higher. Investors for the moment seem to be shrugging off the impact of the SARS virus, which has been hitting airline stocks in particular. The Asian gains follow a boost from Wall Street, which ended almost 2 percent higher on Monday as companies such as Citigroup posted positive earnings news. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.8 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite put on 1.9 percent. (Full story) The Nikkei's close of 7752.10 on Monday was its lowest since November 17, 1982, when it ended at 7740.10. Selling by corporate pension funds has been weighing on the market, but bargain hunters now are seen entering as buyers. Consumer electronics giant Sony is up 2.1 percent at 3890 yen, while leading carmaker Toyota Motor is 2.82 percent higher at 2550 yen after falling to a seven-year low on Monday. Nissan Motor is up 2.72 percent to 831 yen after UBS Warburg raised its operating profit estimate for Nissan for this year and the next two years. Tech-related stocks are showing strong gains, with Hitachi up 4.92 percent to 405 yen and Fujitsu up 2.65 percent to 310 yen. Toshiba, Kyocera, Matsushita Electric Industrial and Sanyo are also on the rise. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo is 4.37 percent higher to 239,000 yen. But some of the big banks are weaker, with Mizuho down 1.62 percent to a fresh record low of 67,000 yen. UFJ is down more than 3 percent to 94,500 yen and SMFG is about half a percent lower. Kospi above 600
In Seoul, the Kospi is 1.7 percent higher at 604.54, after cracking the 600 level on Monday for the first time since February 25. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is 3.3 percent higher at 295,000 won. Big exporter Hyundai Motor is also firmer, up 2.2 percent to 27,5000 won. There are similar gains for KT Corp and steelmaker Posco. Kookmin Bank, the country's biggest lender, is 1.8 percent higher at 19,750 won. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is 0.55 percent higher at 2957.2, boosted by another strong gain for media group News Corp and resources leader BHP Billiton. News is up 2 percent to A$11.14 and BHP is 1.3 percent higher at A$9.49. But newspaper group John Fairfax is 5.28 percent lower at A$2.87 as the market digests its $645 million purchase of newspaper assets in New Zealand. ( Full story) Financial services group AMP is up 2.6 percent to A$7.55 after it announced sales of some of its businesses on Monday to HSBC and GE. (Full story) New Zealand;s Top 50 is 0.85 percent higher at 1998.56. Carter Holt Harvey is up about 2.5 percent, but both Telecom NZ and Air New Zealand are in the red. In Taiwan, the Taiex is 0.35 percent higher at 4475.36, with U.S. gains on Monday helping to push techs such as TSMC and UMC higher. But Hon Hai Precision is down 2.16 percent to T$113.50. In Singapore, the Straits Times index is up 0.35 percent to 1287.45. There are gains for banks DBS and OCBC, but SingTel is in the red. Singapore Airlines is 0.58 percent higher at S$8.70. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is 0.7 percent higher at 8590.36. Big bank HSBC and conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa are up slightly, while China Mobile is 1.6 percent higher at HK$15.60. PCCW, which struck a refinancing agreement with banks on Monday for its 50-50 Reach venture with Telstra, is flat at HK$4.525. (Full story)
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