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Japan higher, Asia weakens
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese stocks are higher at midday Thursday, following another jump on Wall Street. But there are big falls for other Asian markets. Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore are all in the red, with Taiwan's Taiex off more than 4 percent and Singapore's Straits Times index down more than 2 percent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average is up 0.78 percent at 7854.38, following a rise of just 0.04 percent on Wednesday. The broader capital-weighted Topix index is up 0.69 percent at 794.77. Japanese telcos are mainly higher, with KDDI up 0.3 percent and Japan Telecom about 1 percent higher. Tokyo's biggest stock, mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo, is up 2.03 percent at 251,000 yen. But fixed-line giant NTT has given back early gains to be down 0.24 percent at 415,000 yen. Big banks are mixed, with Mizuho recovering a little of the ground it lost on Wednesday when it fell to a record closing low of 60,800 yen. Mizuho is up 0.82 percent to 61,300 yen and UFJ is 1.78 percent higher at 91,700 yen. MTFG and SMFG are both in the red. Leading automakers Toyota and Nissan are up 1.9 percent and 1.35 percent respectively. Honda is unchanged at 3780 yen. Consumer electronics giant Sony, which reports full year earnings later on Thursday, is up 0.81 percent to 3730 yen. Tech-related stocks Hitachi, Fujitsu, Toshiba and NEC are all higher. Tokyo Electron is up 3.93 percent to 4500 yen. South Korea downIn South Korea, the Kospi index is down 1.48 percent to 589.16. Big exporter Hyundai Motor is down more than 2.3 percent to 27,350 won, and market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is off 1.83 percent to 294,500 won. SK Telecom, linked to the SK Group that has been knocked heavily by an accounting scandal at its SK Global trading arm, is down 3.82 percent to 163,500 won. Memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor is up 4.26 percent to 4035 won after announcing an alliance with Europe's STMicroelectronics. (Full story) In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is almost flat, down 0.23 percent to 2998.0. Media giant News Corp is down 0.35 percent to A$11.27 and Telstra is up half a percent to A$4.18. But resources leader BHP Billiton is down a sharp 4.27 percent to A$8.96 after releasing March quarter production figures on Wednesday. Qantas Airways is also heavily in the red, down 3.53 percent to A$3.01, as airlines around the world weigh the growing impact of the SARS virus. New Zealand's Top 50 is up about 1 percent to 2001.42. The central bank surprised analysts Thursday morning with a cut of 0.25 percentage points in the overnight cash rate, taking it down to 5.5 percent. (Full story) Air New Zealand is 5 percent lower to NZ$0.38, within sight of its record low of NZ$0.30 seen in February 2002. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is down about 1.1 percent to 8422.78. The government on Wednesday unveiled a $1.5 billion relief package to help businesses combat the effects of the SARS-induced downturn. (Full story) Big bank HSBC is down about 1.2 percent to HK$82.75 and telco PCCW is 2.6 percent lower at HK$4.70. China Telecom, which reports full-year earnings Thursday, is 2.14 percent higher at HK$1.43. Singapore's Straits Times index is about 1.8 percent lower at 1243.6. Singapore Airlines is off sharply, down 3.4 percent to S$8.45. Big bank DBS Group is also lower, with a similar fall of 3.4 percent to S$8.50. Taiwan's Taiex is showing the region's biggest decline, with techs pushing the index down 4.35 percent to 4366.14. Big chip foundry TSMC is off 2.7 percent to T$47.00, UMC is 3.76 percent lower at T$20.50. Industrial stock Formosa Plastic is down 6.1 percent to T$43.10. Asia's performance follows another day of gains Wednesday on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average put on 0.36 percent to 8515.66 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1.02 percent to 1466.16. (Full story)
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