Asian markets moving higher
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NTT DoCoMo is recovering a little from Wednesday's sharp fall.
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(CNN) -- Asian markets are making a broad advance at midday Thursday, led by solid gains in Japanese and South Korean automakers.
Japanese blue-chip stocks such as Toyota and NTT DoCoMo are well in the black. Korea's Hyundai Motor is up more than 3 percent.
The Nikkei 225 average is up 0.72 percent to 10,162.94 in early afternoon trade, after falling nearly four percent in the previous two trading days.
The broader Topix index is up 0.54 percent at 996.89.
South Korea's Kospi is almost 1 percent ahead and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore are also higher. Australia's market is slightly in the red.
The moves in Tokyo follow Wednesday's sharp falls after news of the first SARS case in Taiwan in more than three months.
Toyota is 3.76 percent higher to 3590 yen and NTT DoCoMo, which dropped 4 percent Wednesday, is up 2.3 percent to 221,000 yen. Nissan is up almost 3 percent to 1212 yen.
But Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC and Toshiba are still in the red.
Big banks have recovered from early falls to be in the black. Investors are continuing to sell Tokyo Electron -- down 1.4 percent to 7600 yen -- and other tech issues after a retreat on the U.S. Nasdaq market.
In Seoul, the Kospi is ahead 0.63 percent to 805.11, with Hyundai Motor up sharply. It is 3.5 percent ahead to 50,000 won.
Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is steady at 443,000 won, while SK Telecom is 3.1 percent ahead to 198,000 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is down 0.19 percent to 3225.4.
In its first day of trading after demerging its U.K. operations, AMP is trading at A$4.76, well above the price of A$4.30 paid by institutions in a bookbuild earlier this week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is 0.43 percent higher to 12,251.08. China Life is making a spectacular debut, jumping 24 percent to HK$4.45. China Life is the world biggest IPO this year, raising $3 billion. (Full story)
Taiwan's Taiex is up 0.34 percent to 5771.80. Chip foundry TSMC, which fell Wednesday as part of a broad pullback among techs, is up 0.8 percent to T$60.00.
The moves in Asia follow a mixed day on Wall Street Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average putting on 0.15 percent but the tech-heavy Nasdaq falling 0.15 percent. (Full story)
