Techs push Japan to higher close
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Ashikaga Bank directors bow as they acknowledge the bank's insolvency.
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(CNN) -- Japan's market surged Monday, closing 3 percent higher to lead a broad Asian advance. Most of Tokyo's gains went to tech-related stocks and big banks.
That was despite a Japanese government takeover of the troubled Ashikaga regional bank that could cost $9 billion in public funds.
Australia was the only major market to finish in the red, down 0.5 percent ahead of an expected interest rate rise this week.
South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan all did well, with gains of 1.4 percent to 1.7 percent. Hong Kong put on 1.1 percent.
The Nikkei 225 average finished the day 3.0 percent higher to 10,403.27, after an initial dip below 10,000. On Friday it lost 0.62 percent.
The broader Topix ended 2.08 percent higher to 1020.52.
Investors in Japan initially were in a selling mood after the government's unexpectedly tough action against Ashikaga Bank, the core unit of Ashikaga Financial Group.
Market watchers were anticipating a rescue in which shareholders would be protected, but the government said Saturday it would temporarily nationalize the bank after inspections showed it was insolvent. (Full story)
The bank was down by its maximum limit, ask-only at 51 yen, after closing Friday at 81 yen.
But three of Japan's big four banks ended solidly in the black, with Mizuho up 2.8 percent to 294,000 yen, UFJ putting on 2.56 percent to 480,000 yen and MTFG up 0.24 percent to 820,000 yen.
The other big bank, SMFG, was down 0.56 percent to 532,000 yen. Fifth-ranked Resona, itself the subject of a bailout in June, rose 0.73 percent to 138 yen.
Toyota Motor, Japan's biggest automaker, recovered from early falls to finish 1.5 percent higher at 3340 yen. Nissan put on 2.88 percent to 1288 yen, while Honda was steady at 4480 yen.
In the telco sector, there were gains of 3.8 percent to 245,000 yen for market heavyweight NTT DoCoMo, while rival KDDI rose 4.9 percent to 599,000 yen.
Tech-related stocks were sharply higher, with gains of 5.3 percent for Fujitsu, 2.3 percent for Hitachi and 2.5 percent for Toshiba. Tech bellwether Tokyo Electron jumped 5.5 percent to 8180 yen and Advantest rose 6 percent to 8300 yen.
In Seoul, the Kospi finished 1.41 percent higher to 807.39. Hyundai Motor put on almost 4 percent to 47,400 won on strong November exports. (Full story)
Leading bank Shinhan was 2.9 percent higher to 18,000 won. Kookmin Bank also was up, 1.9 percent ahead to 43,900 won after saying it is looking to acquire banks in Asia.
But there were falls for KT Corp. and SK Telecom. Samsung Electronics ended just 0.22 percent ahead to 466,000 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.51 percent to 3170.1. News Corp. and Telstra were both in the red and resources leader BHP Billiton fell 1.77 percent to A$11.07.
Leading banks were also lower, ahead of an expected rate rise announcement Wednesday by the central Reserve Bank of Australia. But airline Qantas rose 0.3 percent to A$3.34 after unveiling details of its new low-cost offshoot Jetstar (Full story)
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index finished 1.13 percent ahead to 12,456.99. China Mobile was 2.9 percent higher to HK$23.15 and PCCW was 3.85 percent ahead. HSBC rose 0.4 percent to HK$119.50.
In Taiwan, the Taiex closed 1.7 percent higher to 5870.17, lifted by gains of 3 percent for Formosa Plastic and 0.8 percent for the market's biggest stock, TSMC.
Singapore's Straits Times index closed up 1.39 percent, or 23.75 points, to 1,737.75, a two-and-a-half-week high. DBS Bank rose 2.1 percent to S$14.30.
The moves in Asia followed slight gains on Wall Street in a shortened trading session Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average virtually unchanged and the tech-heavy Nasdaq up 0.36 percent. (Full story)
