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Tokyo closes up, Asia weaker
TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese stocks closed higher Monday, but the other Asian markets that were open finished in the red as fears grow about the impact of the SARS virus. The Nikkei 225 average jumped 1.2 percent to 7969.08, building on Friday's gain of 0.67 percent and putting the index within sight of 8000. The broader capital-weighted Topix index did even better, rising 1.4 percent to 801.79 -- its first close above 800 since April 9. Market heavyweight NTT DoCoMo led the way with a solid gain of almost 3 percent. But big banks were mainly weaker. Singapore shares hit a three-week low with no sign that the outbreak of the deadly SARS virus was abating. The Straits Times Index ended the day down 0.87 percent at 1,271.29 after slipping to 1,270.51 earlier Monday. Elsewhere Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia showed falls of up to 0.7 percent. China's B-share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen were more than 2 percent lower. Markets in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand were closed Monday for the Easter holidays. Japan has been relatively free of the flu-like illness known as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), unlike the hard-hit cities of Hong Kong and Singapore. The spotlight remains on China, which has canceled the week-long May Day holiday to stop millions of Chinese from traveling, and sacked two officials over a cover-up in reporting the number of SARS patients. ( Full story) In South Korea, where security tensions also weighed on investors' minds, the benchmark Kospi index finished about 0.6 percent lower. (Full story) In Japan, tech leaders Tokyo Electron and Advantest closed higher, as did Fujitsu, Kyocera, Canon and Toshiba. NEC and Hitachi were flat, while consumer electronics leader Sony recovered from a fall of more than 2 percent to finish just 0.26 percent lower at 3870 yen. Big banks were weaker, too, with falls for Mizuho, UFJ and SMFG. Mizuho did worst, off 2.72 percent to 68,000 yen. At one point it fell to 67,000 yen, close to its record low of 66,400 yen seen last Tuesday. The other big bank, MTFG, put on 2.2 percent to 416,000 yen. Mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, was up 2.89 percent to 249,000 yen and blue-chip drugmaker Takeda Chemical Industries rose 2.5 percent to 4080 yen. Automakers were also among the gainers. Nissan put on 2.16 percent to 900 yen, Honda rose 2.12 percent to 3850 yen and No. 1 maker Toyota finished up almost 1 percent at 2635 yen after an early fall. South Korea downIn Seoul, the Kospi dipped 0.63 percent to 620.83, with market heavyweight Samsung Electronics off 1.9 percent to 309,000 won. Samsung on Friday reported a 41 percent drop in first-quarter profits. (Full story) Most other blue chips were also well into the red. Big exporter Hyundai Motor finished half a percent lower to 30,000 won and KT Corp lost 1.9 percent to 48,500 won. SK Telecom was down 2.16 percent to 181,000 won after the SK Group said it was announcing a restructuring plan for its trading affiliate SK Global. Big banks were mainly weaker, with falls of about 1 percent or more for Shinhan, Chohung, Kookmin and Korea Exchange Bank. In Taiwan, the Taiex recovered from a weak start to finish just 0.22 percent lower at 4648.12. Chip foundries TSMC and UMC opened in the red but managed to finish with gains of 1.7 percent and 1.4 percent respectively. Formosa Plastics closed 1.28 percent lower at T$46.20. China Airlines was down 1.95 percent and Eva Airways fell more than 3 percent to T$10.90. In Singapore, the main losers were banking stocks, with technology holdings manging to largely hold their ground. Singapore Airlines stocks fell by a modest half of one percent amid continued uncertainty over the impact of SARS on the travel industry. SIA's regional subsidiary Silkair said Monday it may cancel scores of flights due to the downfall in demand. Meanwhile Singapore banking leader DBS Group fell five cents to close at S$8.75. That came ahead of a surprise small increase in profits announced after the market had closed. Other Singapore banks United Overseas Bank and OCBC Bank respectively lost 20 cents and 10 cents off their share values Monday. Telecoms group SingTel was down slightly although its SingPost unit announced a share offer Monday that could raise up to S$684 million. (Full story) Markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong will resume trading on Tuesday.
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