Asian stocks regain a little bounce

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Asian stocks found a little bounce in their step Thursday. Japan rebounded to end up, and markets in Hong Kong and South Korea bumped higher.

Tokyo stocks clawed their way back from a bad morning to close in positive territory. The benchmark Nikkei snapped a two-day losing streak to end up 0.8 percent at 13,277.51.

Traders were pleasantly surprised to see the Nikkei stay above 13,000 all day. The broader, capital-weighted Topix index also rose 0.3 percent at 1,311.63.

Hewlett-Packard had hit tech stocks in the morning, after it warned of a global slowdown in technology spending.

Banks blunted again

That cautious outlook saw tech bellwether Sony fall 1.4 percent to 9,140 yen.

Top Japanese producer of computer printers Canon lost 1.9 percent to 4,640. But some chip issues rebounded during the day.

Advantest Corp, which makes chip-testing devices, rising 4.1 percent to 12,540. Japanese technology investors are now watching U.S. chipmaker Intel's earnings later Thursday.

Japan saw a raft of gloomy economic data Thursday, including a drop in business sentiment. That was ameliorated slightly by sunny machinery orders for April.

But its banks, which have been hit by fears of a mounting problem with bad loans, resumed their fall.

Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest banking group by assets, crashed 4.1 percent to 588,000 yen, completely undoing its two-day rally. Investors say Japan needs to deal with its bad-loan problem, widely regarded as its biggest challenge, before its market can make much headway.

China Mobile leads Hang Seng rally

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index closed up 0.9 percent at 13,703.43. China Mobile, China's biggest cell-phone company, helped it with an afternoon rally that saw it close up 1.5 percent at HK$40.50.

China's three largest oil companies all lost ground after OPEC said it would not raise production and expected little impact from Iraq's decision to stop oil exports.

Sinopec lost 1.3 percent to HK$1.53. PetroChina dropped 2.8 percent to HK$1.75. CNOOC shed 4.2 percent to HK$7.95.

In China, the B share markets made it four down days out of five. The foreign-currency denominated B shares were opened to new foreign-currency accounts last Friday.

The Shanghai B share index dropped 2.4 percent to 384.15. The Shenzhen B share index lost 0.4 percent to 229.164.

China's B shares have been the top-performing indexes this year, driven by surging demand from Chinese investors. But big investors have sold into that demand from the man on the street since June 1.

Australia has cautious gains

In Sydney, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.4 percent to 3,436.6.

Australian investors were cautious again, favoring the safety of bank stocks such as Commonwealth Bank. It gained 53 cents to A$31.55.

National Australia Bank rose 21 cents to A$34.20. ANZ Bank climbed 49 cents to A$A$16.14.

Investors have turned to safety amid corporate worries, intensified by the collapse of junior telco One.Tel. Blue chip media giant News Corp., Australia's biggest stock, rose 12 cents to A$18.27.

Brambles recouped some of Wednesday's loss, brought on by a profit warning. The logistics company added A$1.43 to A$49.00.

New Zealand stocks lost a little ground. The NZSE-40 Capital index slipped 0.4 percent to 2,074. Telecom New Zealand, the biggest stock, slid 9 cents to NZ$5.67.

Seoul higher on Samsung

In Seoul, the benchmark Kospi closed up 0.6 percent at 601.14.

Samsung Electronics, the largest memory-chip maker in the world, rose 5.4 percent to 214,000 won, as chip prices rose.

Hynix Semiconductor rose 4.3 percent to 4,345 won. Investors were waiting for further signs from Intel, which will drive Korea's chip-heavy stock market.

Taipei's Taiex index slid 1.3 percent to 5,153.35. Investors were disappointed Taiwan's parliament didn't pass more reforms. May trade figures were also poor.

Bank stocks were the biggest losers, with Chiao Tung Bank dropping 5.8 percent to T$24.60.

Taiwan's market is still up after crashing through the 5,000 level this week, though.

Philippine stock markets, which have been chafed by the effects of the kidnapping there, gained 1.2 percent. Bargain hunters boosted the Philippines composite index to 1,406.15.

Reuters contributed to this report.