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Nikkei recovers to break losing streak
By Alex Frew McMillan
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Tokyo's Nikkei average turned higher to close just in the black on Friday after falling below a 20-year low earlier in the day. The Nikkei finished at 8,339.94, a gain of 0.28 percent, to end a five-day losing streak. Earlier in the day it fell as far as 8,237.03, below a two-decade closing low of 8,303 seen in November. The broader Topix stayed in the red, finishing down 0.48 percent at 821.18, with many big caps showing losses of more than 2 percent. The market's biggest stock, NTT DoCoMo, fell 2.94 percent to 231,000 yen and rival telecom KDDI tumbled more than 5 percent to 352,000 yen. Much of market closed for New Year
There were also declines in Australia and New Zealand, with stocks off a third of a percent in Singapore. Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were all shut Friday as Asia prepares to usher in the Year of the Goat. The Lunar New Year starts on Saturday. Korean trade will resume on Monday, with Hong Kong back in action on Tuesday. Taiwan is closed for a week. Singapore, which closed early on Friday, also has a long weekend until trade resumes Tuesday. Wall Street tumbled on Thursday as new figures showed the U.S. economy slowed to a crawl for the fourth quarter, with the weakest growth since the recession of 2001. (Full story) The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.04 percent to 7,945.13, while Nasdaq dropped 2.63 percent to 1,322.35. (U.S. roundup) Pioneer turns Tokyo tideIn Tokyo on Friday, Japanese stocks initially were rocked by the country's jobless rate returning to a record high. (Full story) But a gain of almost 10 percent for car audio maker Pioneer helped stem the slide. It closed at 2,295 yen after raising its profit forecast for the year ending next March. Automaker Honda rose 1.79 percent to 3,990 yen and Nissan put on 1.44 percent to 913 yen. Sony Corp. slipped 1.26 percent to 4,710 yen despite posting record earnings for its third quarter. (Full story) NEC Corp. fell 2.27 percent to 430 yen one day after posting a net loss of 4.56 billion yen ($38.3 million) for the December quarter, much improved over its large loss the same time the year before. The poor jobless figures put pressure on some bank stocks. Mizuho Holdings, the biggest bank in the world by assets, fell 1.71 percent to 115,000 yen and Mitsubishi Tokyo Finance Group dipped 1.42 percent to 626,000 yen. The yen is slightly weaker at 118.88 to the U.S. dollar. Sydney stocks at three month lowIn Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.3 percent lower at 2,956.9 after touching 2,929 earlier in the day -- levels not seen since October last year. Media group News Corp. led the declines, falling 1.7 percent to A$11.30 after rival AOL Time Warner posted the largest annual loss in U.S. corporate history. At one point News shares were down about 3 percent. Troubled financial services group AMP slipped 4.2 percent to A$9.17, close to its record low of A$9.10. National Australia Bank fell 0.25 percent to A$31.45 on gloomy economic prospects. The NAB said this week that Australian growth would be held back by about a percentage point as the country feels the effects of a severe drought. (Full story) Commonwealth Bank slipped 0.42 percent to A$25.91 ahead of its half-year earnings in February. Gold stocks closed higher as investors move to safe havens, with Placer Dome up 3.94 percent to A$19.25. Food group and takeover target Goodman Fielder closed flat at A$1.75 after completing its asset selloff. (Full story) Its suitor, Burns Philp, rose 2 percent to A$0.495. New Zealand's Top 40 closed down 0.47 percent to 1,966.61, with Telecom New Zealand down 1.34 percent to NZ$4.41 ahead of its earnings on Tuesday. Coffeemix leaps in SingaporeSingapore's Straits Times index closed down 0.33 percent to 1,291.61 on a shortened trading day. Traders return on February 4. Bank stock DBS Group lead the big-cap losses, down 2.86 percent to S$10.20, while UOB fell 0.94 percent to S$10.50. Singapore Airlines was off 2.03 percent to S$9.65. There were outsize gains for Super Coffeemix, up 18.9 percent to S$0.315, after tycoon Oei Hong Leong bought a 10 percent stake in the company. (Full story) Chartered Semiconductor was flat at S$0.71 after Nasdaq's fall.
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