Asian stocks close with narrow gains

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Asian stocks closed with gains that barely registered in percentage terms Monday.

A few major-name laggards held back the progress of the main markets.

Japan's markets closed essentially flat. Australia ended with slight gains, though its largest stock saw a hefty drop.

The sharpest losses came in Taiwan. South Korean stocks squeaked out a gain.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed with a loss ahead of an earnings result from its largest component, bank HSBC Holdings, which posted a profit after the bell.

Topix down while Nikkei rises

In Tokyo, the tech-sensitive Nikkei index slightly up, gaining 0.02 percent to 12,243.90. But the broader Topix index lost ground, dropping 0.1 percent to 1,128.

Trading was light, with Japan preparing for the release of its preliminary budget on Friday.

Property stock Tokyu Land Corp. saw the heaviest trading, rising 5.5 percent at 232 yen by the close.

Realtors and property stocks in general rose ahead of a likely boost from revitalization efforts in the budget.

On Friday, Japan approved its first real-estate investment trust, which will start trading September 10.

Electronics maker Mitsubishi Electric Corp. fell 6.9 percent to 525 yen, after Deutsche Securities cut its rating on the stock to "underperform" from "market perform."

Electronic parts maker TDK slid 5.1 percent to 6,140 yen ahead of earnings on Tuesday.

Banks also lost ground. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group dipped 1.7 percent to 983,000 yen after Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on its main bank, the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

After trading ended, credit-rating agency Fitch lowered its rating on 19 Japanese banks, including Mizuho Holdings Inc., the biggest bank in the world by assets.

News Corp. off on rival bid

In Sydney, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed up just 1.6 points at 3,406.7.

Its largest stock, News Corp., fell 3.5 percent to A$18.22 on No. 2 U.S. satellite television provider EchoStar's rival $30.4 billion bid for DirecTV, long coveted by Murdoch's News.

News has been negotiating with DirecTV's owner Hughes Electronics for months.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia rallied 1.8 percent to A$30.42. But regional Bendigo Bank rose even more, up 4.8 percent to A$6.72 after it posted a 56 percent increase in net profit.

Among mining stocks, giant BHP Billiton crept up five cents to A$10.04. Rival Rio Tinto retreated 10 cents to A$33.42.

HSBC down ahead of earnings

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index dropped 0.8 percent to 12,165.47.

HSBC lost 0.3 percent to HK$90.50 ahead of its earnings. After the close, it reported net profit rose 4.0 percent to $3.67 billion, or 39 cents a share, for the first half from $3.53 billion the same time last year.

That was better than expected. But the bank said the global economic environment remained challenging.

HSBC was trading up 2 percent in London.

Its subsidiary Hang Seng reported net profit of HK$5.375 billion against a year-ago figure of HK$5.195 billion.

Hang Seng ended up 1.46 percent at HK$86.75.

China-linked lost ground, with investors dumping China's largest cellular carrier, China Mobile.

The H-share index, or China-based companies trading in Hong Kong, slumped 4.4 percent to 417.52 points.

In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi index ended up 0.12 percent at 569.37.

Hynix Semiconductor, the world memory chip No. 3, rose 10.2 percent to 1,790 won as investors stay positive it will line up fresh funding.

Daegu Bank rose 2.8 percent to 2,000 won on a good day for regional banks.

Building company Hyundai Industrial rose 12.6 percent to 5,200 won on good apartment-sale numbers.

In Taiwan, the benchmark Taiex fell 1.3 percent to 4,470.73.

Electronics and chip-making stocks fell. Taipei's largest stock, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., lost 1.5 percent to T$68.00.

Rival United Microelectronics Corp. fell 2 percent to T$39.50.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index was trading up 0.7 percent at 1,661.52 as its banking stocks gained ground.

Reuters contributed to this report.