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Asia stays higher on Iraq news
TOKYO, Japan -- Asian markets are higher at midday Wednesday, following the gains in U.S. stocks on reports from Iraq of an uprising in Basra against Iraqi troops. Japan is doing best, with a gain of more than 1.6 percent for the Nikkei 225 average. South Korea and Singapore are both up about 1.3 percent. Investors in Asia are also factoring in news of a battle near Najaf, which the United States says may be the biggest since the Iraq war started last Thursday. As Japan heads to the end of its March 31 financial year, Tokyo's Nikkei is up 1.63 percent to 8372.93 at the midday break. The broader Topix is up 0.96 percent to 820.12. Blue chips such as Toyota, Sony and Canon are all firmer. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, is 1.76 percent higher at 231,000 yen. But No. 2 airline ANA is down 7.75 percent to 238 yen. In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi is up strongly, moving ahead by 1.34 percent to 562.42. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is 0.65 percent higher at 308,000 won. Singapore's Straits Times index is up 1.32 percent to 1328.60 and Taiwan's Taiex is also higher, with a gain of about a third of a percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is showing a modest rise of about a quarter of a percent. Markets in Australia and New Zealand are up 0.9 percent and 0.25 percent respectively in Wednesday afternoon trade. On Tuesday Wall Street finished higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq putting on 1.55 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average closing 0.80 percent up at 8280.23. That eased nerves a day after Wall Street had posted the year's biggest losses. (Full story) "The U.S. market will keep moving in either direction on good or bad news on the war. It cannot be helped, but they are paying less attention to economic fundamentals and corporate earnings news," Koichi Seki, Chuo Securities' equity manager, told Reuters news agency. "On the domestic front, we have a special year-end situation in which there are fewer sellers than buyers," he added. Wednesday morning's gains in Tokyo come after the Nikkei had suffered its biggest loss in three weeks on Tuesday, ending down 2.33 percent at 8238.76. It touched a 20-year closing low of 7862.43 on March 11. The Nikkei has fallen about 20 percent since the end of the last fiscal year, representing big losses for banks that need to value their shareholdings at market prices when they rule off their books at year-end. Still, big banks showed some strength in the morning session, with UFJ Holdings up 3.45 percent to 120,000 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 1.33 percent higher at 228,000 yen. Mizuho is up 1.36 percent to 97,200 yen. Video game maker Nintendo has moved ahead 1.34 percent to 9850 yen as it prepares to unveil its revamped Game Boy Advance on the European market. (Full story) Shares in Shiseido, the world's No. 4 cosmetics maker, are unchanged at 1280 yen after President Morio Ikeda said on Tuesday the company was on track to meet its forecast for record profits and sales in the year to March 31, ending two years of losses. (Full story) Big consumer electronics maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd is 0.28 percent higher at 1068 yen. It said on Tuesday it planned to launch an Internet-enabled "i-mode" handset in Europe by the end of this year. The dollar is relatively steady against the yen, at 119.93 in midday Asian trade. Oil prices are starting to firm again, with NYMEX May crude up from $27.97 a barrel in New York Tuesday to $28.50 in after-hours trade. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is up 0.9 percent to 2880.0, with News Corp up 3.54 percent to A$11.10 and widely held telephone company Telstra up 1.52 percent to A$4.02. Big banks and resources stocks are also higher. Miner MIM is up 5.56 percent to A$1.52 after it said talks were continuing with potential suitor Xstrata. New Zealand's Top 50 is about 0.2 percent higher at 1907.14 near the close. Air New Zealand is down sharply, off 3.85 percent to NZ$0.50. Telecom New Zealand is unchanged at NZ$4.33. Singapore's banks are leading the gains there, with DBS up 2.6 percent to S$9.75 and UOB and OCBC also higher. Singapore Airlines is up 2 percent to S$9.95. Taiwan tech-related stocks are firmer, with chip foundry TSMC up 1.72 percent to T$47.40 and Acer 1.87 percent higher to A$32.70. In Hong Kong, blue chips are steady, trending slightly higher. Big bank HSBC is unchanged at HK$82.50, while China Mobile is up 0.6 percent and China Unicom is 1 percent ahead. Reuters contributed to this report.
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