Markets mixed in Australia, Korea

Seoul's Kospi index opened slightly weaker

SYDNEY, Australia -- Australian blue chip stocks opened mainly weaker on Thursday, taking their lead from mixed sentiment on Wall Street.

Sentiment improved, however, lifting the benchmark index, the S&P/ASX 200, 6.2 points to 3336.8 after an hour's trade.

With the Tokyo market closed Thursday and Friday, investor interest in North Asia was centred on South Korea, where the Kospi was down slightly in early trade. It lost 6.1 points to 577.6.

Tech stocks such as SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics were weaker, but Hynix Semiconductor made a modest gain, up 25 won to 3410 won.

In Australia, shares in mining giant BHP Ltd eased 10 cents to A$21.60 in early trade. That came despite its announcement before the market opened of a higher than expected third quarter net profit of A$27 million and expectations of favorable conditions for the fourth quarter.

Banking heavyweight NAB weakened, but other bank stocks were firmer. Westpac Banking Corp was up 7 cents at A$12.87 ahead of its results due on Friday.

News Corp was up 14 cents at A$18.94 on reports that its deal with GM for control of DirecTV may be moving closer to fruition.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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