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Asia opens higher on Iraq news
TOKYO, Japan -- Asian markets have opened higher Wednesday, following the gains in U.S. stocks on reports from Iraq of an uprising in Basra against Iraqi troops. Also weighing on markets is news of an ongoing battle near Najaf, which the United States says may be the biggest since the war started last Thursday. As Japan heads to the end of its March 31 financial year, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average is up 0.93 percent to 8315.55. The broader Topix is up 0.59 percent to 817.07. Blue chips such as Sony, Canon and Toyota are all firmer. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, is about 2 percent higher at 232,000 yen. In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi is also up strongly, moving ahead by 1.68 percent to 564.37. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is 1.14 percent higher at 309,500 won. Singapore and Taiwan are also higher, with gains of 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. Markets in Australia and New Zealand are up 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent respectively. 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 are showing some strength in early trade, with UFJ Holdings up 2.6 percent to 119,000 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 2.2 percent higher at 230,000 yen. Shares in Shiseido, the world's No. 4 cosmetics maker, are 0.7 percent higher to 1289 yen Wednesday 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 virtually flat at 1066 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 120.01 in early Asian trade. Oil prices are easier, with NYMEX May crude settlling at $27.97 a barrel in New York Tuesday. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is up about 0.6 percent to 2870.4, with News Corp up 2.14 percent to A$10.96 and widely held telephone company Telstra up 1.01 percent to A$4.00. Big banks and resources stocks are also higher. New Zealand's Top 50 is about 0.3 percent higher at 1909.43. Air New Zealand is down sharply, off 3.85 percent to NZ$0.50. Reuters contributed to this report.
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