Taiwan, Australia lead Asia gains
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Latham is the new leader of the opposition Labor Party in Australia.
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(CNN) -- Asian markets closed mainly higher Tuesday following rallies in Europe and on Wall Street. But most gains were modest, with Taiwan and Australia doing best.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average finished the day just in the black at 10,410.15, with a mixed performance for banks, exporters and techs. The small gain of 0.07 percent followed Monday's spectacular 3 percent rise.
The broader Topix ended 0.29 percent higher to 1023.50.
Taiwan's Taiex had the day's biggest gain, up 0.7 percent to 5911.45. Australia's S&P/ASX rose 0.56 percent, while South Korea and New Zealand were virtually flat, up 0.06 percent and 0.05 percent respectively.
Hong Kong lost 0.36 percent and Singapore shares ended down after gaining ground last week.
In Tokyo, some big banks posted gains, with a 3.75 percent rise for UFJ to 498,000 yen and 1.5 percent for SMFG to 540,000 yen. Mizuho eased 1 percent to 291,000 yen.
Ashikaga Financial Group, which was taken over by the government at the weekend, plunged another 60 percent to just 21 yen. (Full story)
Leading exporter Toyota finished 2.4 percent ahead to 3420 yen. But Nissan was down 1.8 percent and Honda was off 1.1 percent.
Tech-related stocks were mixed with falls for Fujitsu and Kyocera, but a solid 2.9 percent gain for NEC to 826 yen. Hitachi and NEC Electronics also were in the black.
Consumer electronics leader Sony ended down 1.8 percent to 3730 yen after announcing a convertible bond issue of up to 250 billion yen late Monday.
Fuji Photo Film rose 2.5 percent to 3270 yen on its decision to boost production of LCD film. (Full story)
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 closed at 3187.7. Resources stocks got a boost from higher metal prices and the election of a new leader for the opposition Australian Labor Party.
BHP Billiton jumped 3.3 percent to A$11.44 on stronger copper prices in the United States, while rival resources group Rio Tinto was up 2 percent to A$35.49.
Newcomer Mark Latham, 42, defeated veteran Kim Beazley for the ALP leadership in a close 47-45 vote count, following last week's decision by incumbent Simon Crean to step down. (Full story)
Latham will now lead Labor into an election campaign next year against John Howard's coalition government.
The Australian dollar again traded strongly against the greenback Tuesday, touching a fresh six-year high of 72.93 U.S. cents late in the day.
Against the yen, the dollar traded at 109.51 yen in Tokyo. The moves in Asia follow the U.S. dollar's slump to a record low Monday against the euro.
The Australian market was also affected by expectations the central Reserve Bank of Australia will raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday morning. Big bank NAB rose 0.5 percent, but most other banks closed in the red.
There were slight gains for market heavyweight News Corp., while airline Qantas ended 2.1 percent higher to A$3.41 after unveiling a new low-cost domestic carrier, Jetstar. (Full story)
Westfield America Trust was flat after announcing it is selling its retail interest in the World Trade Center in New York. (Full story)
South Korea's Kospi ended 0.05 percent ahead to 807.78, helped by gains for big exporter Hyundai Motor and market heavyweight Samsung Electronics.
SK Telecom slipped 0.5 percent to 192,000 won, while leading bank Shinhan was down 3.9 percent to 17,300 won.
Taiwan's Taiex was 0.7 percent ahead to 5911.45, with a gain of 3.1 percent to T$66.00 for chip foundry TSMC. Smaller rival UMC finished 2.3 percent ahead to T$30.80.
Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.51 percent, or 8.79 points, to 1,728.96. DBS Bank is up 2.1 percent to S$14.60.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which closed at a 28-month high Monday, slipped 0.36 percent to 12,412.23 after going as high as 12,539 earlier in the day.
Leading bank HSBC was steady at HK$119.50 while China Mobile lost 1.5 percent to HK$22.80.
The gains in Asia followed a strong performance on Wall Street Monday, where a surge in manufacturing activity pushed the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.2 percent to a fresh 18-month high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq did even better, putting on 1.5 percent to close at a 22-month high. (Full story)
