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Japan closes at 13-month high
(CNN) -- Japan closed at a 13-month high and most other Asian markets rose on Tuesday, building on Wall Street's strong close Monday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average finished at 10,174.10, up 1.41 percent to its highest close since July 23 last year. At one point it touched 10,241. The broader Topix also closed at its highest since July 2002, up 1.5 percent to 990.64. Japanese techs Hitachi and Toshiba both ended more than 6 percent higher, and the market's biggest stock, NTT DoCoMo, jumped more than 5.5 percent to 303,000 yen. Most other markets were also at or near their highs for the year. In South Korea, the Kospi put on 1.37 percent and there were gains of about 0.4 percent for New Zealand, while Australia posted a modest rise of 0.15 percent, still enough for a fresh one-year high of 3169.3 for the S&P/ASX200. But Taiwan's Taiex, which was one 1 percent higher during the day, faded just into the red by the close, down 0.08 percent to 5512.16. On Monday it finished at a 14-month high. Likewise, Hong Kong slipped from early gains to finish 0.15 percent lower. Singapore has also slipped into the red near the close after finishing Monday at its highest since July 2002. The moves in Asia followed Wall Street's rally on Monday, where strength among retailers and the chip sector pushed the Dow almost 1 percent higher to 9412.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 2.2 percent to 1739.49. (Wall St surges) Japan's performance was its best since July last year. Big exporter and consumer electronics leader Sony ended 1.3 percent higher to 3790 yen and Canon was up 3 percent to 5770 yen. Along with the gains among consumer-related tech stocks, Japanese industrials and banks also did well. Big steelmaker JFE Holdings put on 2.6 percent to 2375 yen and Rohm was 5 percent higher to 14,680 yen. Nissan and Toyota posted small gains of 0.3 percent, but Honda gave up a 1 percent rise to finish flat at 4920 yen. Mizuho Holdings led the big banks, with a jump of more than 6.8 percent to 125,000 yen. UFJ finished ahead 0.3 percent to 301,000 yen, MTFG was up 4.3 percent and SMFG rose about 1.2 percent. In Seoul, the Kospi finished at 740.13, the best close since September last year, with market heavyweight Samsung Electronics 2.6 percent higher to 430,000 won. Mobile operator SK Telecom rose 2 percent and leading bank Shinhan jumped 3.3 percent to 15,450 won. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 finsihed 0.17 percent higher to 3172.1, helped by a 1.7 percent gain for resources giant BHP Billiton to A$10.73. Media group News Corp was up 1.13 percent to A$12.48, and Telstra ended 0.2 percent higher at A$4.75. Westpac Bank slipped 1.75 percent after confirmed its interest in New Zealand bank NBNZ. (Full story) Hong Kong's Hang Seng index eased 0.15 percent from Monday's one-year highs, closing at 10,509.29. China Mobile was up 0.5 percent to HK$19.30 and PCCW ended 1.2 percent higher to HK$4.20. Leading bank HSBC slipped 0.5 perent to HK$101.50. Taiwan's Taiex ended just in the red, despite a 1.6 percent gain to T$62.50 for market heavyweight, chip foundry TSMC. Its smaller rival UMC gave up early gains to finish down 0.4 percent. Formosa Plastic was off 2.8 percent. Singapore's Straits Times index was down 0.43 percent at the close. Singapore Airlines is 1.7 percent higher to S$11.60 and big bank DBS is unchanged at S$12.30.
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