Honda result revs up Nikkei
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Honda and other Japanese carmakers are higher in Monday trade.
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TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japanese stocks are higher at midday Monday, led by gains in the auto sector after Honda Motor reported a surprise rise in quarterly profit despite a slide in the dollar.
The Nikkei 225 average is up 0.21 percent at 10,806.52, clawing back part of a 2.6 percent fall last week.
The broader Topix index is up 0.51 percent at 1,052.82.
Markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are closed Monday for Hajj-related holidays. India's market is also closed.
Australia and South Korea are higher, but Hong Kong is off sharply.
Taiwan is down slightly and New Zealand is also in the red.
In Tokyo, Honda, Japan's second-biggest auto maker, was expected to post a drop in October-December operating profit, hurt by a sales slide at home and slower demand in its crucial U.S. market, plus a weak dollar that reduces overseas earnings in yen terms.
"Honda's solid earnings came against a consensus that it was badly hurt by the dollar/yen rate and caught bears off guard," said Yusuke Sakai, manager of equities at Mizuho Securities.
"Given that, Toyota and Nissan are up as well."
Shares in Honda are up 1.61 percent at 4,420 yen. Toyota Motor Corp has gained 3.47 percent to 3,580 yen and Nissan Motor Co put on 1.77 percent to 1,149 yen.
Investors also bought other firms with bright earnings prospects, such as Sharp Corp, which reports third-quarter results after the close Monday.
Sharp, Japan's largest liquid crystal display (LCD) maker, is up 1.52 percent at 1,933 yen and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, the Panasonic brand maker, has added 0.95 percent to 1,595 yen.
Optimism about sales of digital cameras and other digital products is still high although analysts said some of the technology shares appeared to have been overbought.
Electronics components maker Kyocera Corp dropped 2.75 percent to 7,770 yen, even though the company posted a higher net profit for the latest quarter.
Kanebo Ltd soared 10.26 percent to 129 yen and was the most actively traded issue after Kao Corp said at the weekend it was in talks to buy Kanebo's cosmetics operations in a deal reportedly worth some 400 billion yen ($3.78 billion).
Kao, Japan's biggest household products maker, is up 1.55 percent at 2,300 yen.
In the United States, fourth-quarter growth came in below forecast, raising fears the recovery might not be as strong as first thought.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 22.22 points to 10488.07 Friday. The S&P 500 Index fell 2.98 points to 1131.13 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 2.08 points to 2066.15.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is negative in Monday trade, shedding 2.10 percent by mid-session to stand at 13010.92.
The biggest victims were PCCW, which lost 3.25 percent, Hutchison Whampoa, down 2.70 percent and China Mobile, which lost 1.96 percent of value.
The South Korean Kospi was undeterred, staying in positive territory by adding 0.47 percent in value to stand at 852.52 by mid-session.
The Taiex was down slightly, losing 0.12 percent to be at 6367.98, while the New Zealand Top 50 index was 0.37 percent lower at 2462.34.
Australian stocks were flat by the mid-session Monday after an early flurry that saw National Australia Bank jump to a three-month high lost a bit of steam.
A possible rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia this week after its rate-setting board meeting on Tuesday was also at the back of investors' minds.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index stood 0.11 percent higher at 3,275.5, off an early high of 3,285.8 and following last week's 1.9 percent fall.
NAB rose more than 2 percent to a high of A$31.26 -- a level last seen in late October -- in early trade on news that its chief executive Frank Cicutto resigned following the recent currency trading scandal.
Its shares then retreated to A$31.02, up a more modest 1.5 percent.
"It was a surprise to the market, certainly the timing may have been a little sooner than people had expected," said Burrell Stockbroker director Richard Herring.
Investors gave Woolworths Ltd a wide berth after the grocer reported a 6.1 percent rise in second-quarter sales that was at the lower end of expectations.
Woolworths shares lost 1.2 percent to A$11.60.
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
