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Japan higher, Asia weakens
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese stocks finished higher Thursday, following another jump on Wall Street. But there were big falls for other Asian markets. Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore were all in the red, with Taiwan's Taiex off more than 4 percent and Korea's Kospi down about 1.6 percent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average closed up 0.79 percent at 7854.57, following a rise of just 0.04 percent on Wednesday. The broader capital-weighted Topix index finished 0.65 percent ahead at 794.45. Japanese telcos were mainly higher, with KDDI up 0.9 percent and fixed-line giant NTT half a percent higher. Tokyo's biggest stock, mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo, rose 2.03 percent to 251,000 yen. But Japan Telecom gave back early gains to be down 0.63 percent at 318,000 yen. Big banks were 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 finished up 2.96 percent to 62,600 yen and UFJ was 2.0 percent higher at 91,900 yen. MTFG lost 1.5 percent and SMFG closed unchanged at 177,000 yen. Leading automakers Toyota and Nissan were up 0.8 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. Honda rose 1.85 percent to 3850 yen. Consumer electronics giant Sony, which posted a full-year group net profit of 115.5 billion yen after the close, ended 0.54 percent higher at 3720 yen. (Full story) Tech-related stocks Hitachi, Canon, Toshiba and NEC were also higher. Tokyo Electron finished 3.46 percent higher at 4480 yen. South Korea down
In South Korea, the Kospi index closed down 1.63 percent to 588.35. Big exporter Hyundai Motor lost 2.86 percent to 27,200 won, and market heavyweight Samsung Electronics was off 1.67 percent to 295,000 won. SK Telecom, linked to the SK Group that has been knocked heavily by an accounting scandal at its SK Global trading arm, dipped 3.82 percent to 163,500 won. Memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor closed 0.26 percent higher to 3880 won after announcing an alliance with Europe's STMicroelectronics. (Full story) In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was almost flat, down 0.1 percent to 3001.9, ahead of a holiday Friday. Media giant News Corp. edged into the black, up 0.09 percent to A$11.32 and Telstra rose 0.24 percent to A$4.17. But resources leader BHP Billiton finished down a sharp 3.95 percent to A$8.99 after releasing March quarter production figures on Wednesday. Qantas Airways was also heavily in the red, down 3.85 percent to A$3.00, as airlines around the world weigh the growing impact of the SARS virus. ANZ Bank, which lifted full-year profit 9 percent, finished unchanged at A$18.75. New Zealand's Top 50 rose 0.78 percent to 1994.35. 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 finished 2.5 percent lower at NZ$0.39, within sight of its record low of NZ$0.30 seen in February 2002. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed 0.91 percent lower at 8442.11. 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 was down 1.2 percent to HK$82.75 and telco PCCW closed 1.56 percent higher at HK$4.87. China Mobile fell 2.3 percent while ChinaTelecom was flat at HK$1.40. Singapore's Straits Times index closed at a new five-week low, down 1.82 percent to 1,243.01. Singapore Airlines was off sharply, dipping 4.0 percent to S$8.40 -- its lowest level since November 2001. Big bank DBS Group was also lower, with a fall of 4 percent to S$8.45. Taiwan's Taiex posted the region's biggest decline, with techs pushing the index down 4.16 percent to 4374.94. Big chip foundry TSMC was off 2.07 percent to T$47.30, UMC ended 3.29 percent lower at T$20.60. Industrial stock Formosa Plastic plunged 6.75 percent to T$42.80. 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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