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Nikkei adds to winning run
(CNN) -- Japanese stocks again closed higher on Tuesday, building on Monday's 3 percent rise that took the market to a 14-month high. South Korea, Australia and Taiwan also finished at their best for a year or more. After opening slightly in the red, the Nikkei 225 average closed up 0.19 percent at 10,690.08, off from the day's high of 10,748. Technology stocks continued to make gains, with Matsushita Electric Industrial up almost 3.5 percent and consumer electronics leader Sony up 1.8 percent. Big bank UFJ jumped 14 percent on broker optimism. On Monday the Nikkei finished at 10,670.18, its highest close since July 10 last year. The broader Topix index put on 0.19 percent to finish Tuesday at 1028.91, after it also closed Monday at its highest since July last year. Eleswhere in the region, South Korea rose 0.3 percent, Australia was up 0.4 percent, Taiwan put on 0.42 percent and New Zealand slipped just into the red. Hong Kong ended 0.34 percent higher after an early close because of a typhoon warning. Singapore is down about half a percent near the close. Markets in the United States were closed Monday for the Labor Day national holiday. President Bush defended his tax cuts and economic policies during a key speech in Ohio. (Full story) In Tokyo, arcade and videogame software maker Sega jumped more than 7 percent to 1286 yen and Internet investor Softbank rose 14 percent on reports it may enter the Nikkei 225 index. Two other tech bellwethers, Advantest and Tokyo Electron, were up about 2 percent each. Leading automaker Toyota put on 0.3 percent. Nissan and Honda gave up early gains to finish slightly in the red. There were big gains for the leading banks, with UFJ surging 13.8 percent to 361,000 yen after bullish broker comments on the banking sector. Mizuho was up 8 percent to 159,000 yen and SMFG closed 5.5 percent higher at 442,000 yen. MTFG ended virtually flat at 711,000 yen. The market's biggest stock, NTT DoCoMo, fell 2 percent to 301,000 yen. Rivals KDDI and Japan Telecom were both higher. Among industrials, Nippon Steel ended flat at 216 yen. In Seoul, the Kospi finished at a 14-month high, putting on 0.31 percent to 766.50. It was helped by a 1 percent gain for Hyundai Motor and a half percent lift for SK Telecom. The market's leader, Samsung Electronics, was down 1.5 percent to 430,500 won. Rival Hynix Semiconductor was up 11.3 percent to 9060 won on restructuring optimism. Citigroup was named as one potential buyer of Hynix's non-memory operations. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 also closed at a 14-month high, up 0.4 percent to 3218.0 after new data showed the economy posted a slight GDP gain in the June quarter. (Full story) There was a 2.1 percent lift to A$11.23 for BHP Billiton. Market heavyweight News Corp also finished in the black, up 0.15 percent to A$13.59. Wine group Southcorp, which posted a $600 million loss on heavy writedowns, put on 1.9 percent to A$3.24. (Full story) But Anglo-Australian pallet group Brambles fell almost 8 percent to A$4.81 after a profit decline of about 40 percent. (Full story) Taiwan's Taiex finished at a 15-month high of 5715.95, a gain of 0.42 percent. Chip foundry UMC put on 2.5 percent to T$28.00, but larger rival TSMC slipped 0.7 percent to T$67.00. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index put on 0.34 percent to finish at 10,939.94 after touching 10,967 earlier in the day. Big conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa was up slightly at HK$58.00. China Mobile was down 0.7 percent to HK$20.00. Singapore's Straits Times was one of the few regional indices to end the day down, ending two days of gains closing 0.58 percent lower at 1596.36. New Zealand's Top 50 also fell, losing 0.08 percent to 2206.69. Air New Zealand was up 3.7 percent to NZ$0.55.
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