Asian bourses bouncing back
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Toyota is higher Friday after lifting its global sales forecast.
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(CNN) -- Gains on Wall Street are giving confidence to investors in Asia Friday, with the market firmer in afternoon trade after a week of negative sentiment stoked by the strength of the yen against the dollar.
There are solid gains for South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, while Japan is mixed.
Tokyo's key Nikkei 225 average is down 0.07 percent at 10,457.19, despite gains for techs such as Fujitsu and Hitachi.
Consumer electronics leader Sony and office equipment bellwether Canon are both slightly in the red.
The Nikkei index hit a six-week low of 10,374.90 Thursday, down more than seven percent from its close on January 20.
The broader Topix index is 0.09 percent higher to 1026.45.
Toyota Motor Corp, the world's second-biggest auto maker, is up 1.43 percent to 3,540 yen a day after it posted a huge jump in quarterly profits, prompting it to lift its earnings forecasts for the full year. (Full story)
But Nissan is in the red while Honda is just 0.45 percent higher.
Big banks are higher on reports that their bad loans are falling. Mizuho is up 1 percent to 297,000 yen and SMFG is 1.5 percent higher to 537,000 yen.
The Nihon Keizai business daily reported bad loans at the top seven banks fell in the three months to December.
NTT Data Corp., a unit of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., dropped after leaving its full-year earnings forecasts unchanged. It is down 2.11 percent in after trade.
South Korea's Kospi is up 0.92 percent to 848.41 points.
Samsung Electronics is up 3.91 percent - the biggest market mover while another bellwether, SK Telecom, lost 1.83 percent.
The Hang Seng is embracing the optimistic mood, rising 1.65 percent to 13,245.9 points.
Singapore Telecommunications, on the back of its strong results Thursday, has risen 3.85 percent to S$2.16. (Full story)
Its bullish run has helped the Straits Times index, which stands1.23 percent higher at 1851.20 in afternoon trade.
Singapore Airlines is up 1.8 percent to S$11.40, also buoyed by strong earnings. (Full story)
Taiwan's Taiex is also higher, up 1.81 percent at 6381.48 points.
Australian stocks jumped higher but have barely moved since mid-monring. The S&P/ASX 200 index is up 0.27 percent 3270.7.
Investors were cheered by positive analyst reports on AMP, which rose 1.6 percent to A$4.36.
But market heavyweight News Corp has eased slightly to A$11.72. Resources leader BHP Billiton has shed 0.35 percent to A$11.45 while Rio Tinto has lapsed 1.15 percent to A$35.24.
Sleep disorder company Resmed put on 5.5 percent after reporting a record profit for the first half of its financial year.
The New Zealand bourse is closed Friday for a national holiday.
Earlier on Wall Street Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.24 per cent to close at 10,495.55 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq moved 0.27 per cent higher to 2019.56. (Full story)
