Nikkei up despite tech weakness

McDonald's Japan shares rose almost 5 percent in early Jasdaq trading Friday

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo's Nikkei index gained ground in early trade Friday, after stocks opened easier.

The market initially was weighed down by tech falls after consumer electronics giant Sony Corp announced weaker-than-expected results.

But some of the Japanese jitters were offset by gains on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average ended Thursday 0.5 percent higher at 10,455.63 and the Nasdaq up almost 2 percent to 2022.95..

Slowing activity ahead of Sunday's Upper House election in Japan also helped limit the downside, analysts said.

By mid-morning, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average was up almost 70 points to 11,923.32. The broader TOPIX index rose 0.72 points to 1,193.34.

Australia, Korea also higher

Elsewhere in the region, markets in Australia, Korea and Taiwan were all higher in early trade Friday, while New Zealand was slightly in the red.

In Tokyo, Sony was trading at 6300 yen, down 770 yen or 11 percent from the previous close.

"We have to be prepared for how bad the results of other companies may be," said Hiroyuki Nakai, manager of investment research at Tokai Tokyo Securities.

"The market has not yet factored in a worsening in information-technology firms' earnings for the first half of the business year or the possibility of a series of downward revisions in earnings estimates for the second half," he said.

Sony officials said late on Thursday that this year was shaping up as a tough one after the world's largest audio-visual electronics maker reported a more than 90 percent slide in earnings for the April-June quarter.

NEC, Fujitsu to announce results

Chip and computer maker NEC Corp sank 2.93 percent to 1,559 yen and its rival Fujitsu Ltd lost 1.66 percent to 1,126 yen. The two firms are among those to announce earnings results for the April-June quarter later in the day.

Matsushita Communication was down 0.5 percent at 3,970 yen after it dived 9.52 percent the previous day.

McDonald's Co Japan Ltd jumped 4.68 percent to 4,920 yen as Japan's top burger chain operator started regular trading on Jasdaq after it made a strong debut the previous day.

The stock first traded at 4,700 yen on Thursday, up 9.3 percent from its initial public offering price of 4,300 yen.

Reuters contributed to this report.