Asian stocks bounce on Fed's move

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Asian stocks bounced back from an early dip on Wednesday morning.

Japan's main indexes were showing strong gains as afternoon trading got underway, with the benchmark Nikkei rising on bank gains.

South Korea was also higher. But Singapore, which opened strongly, slipped into the red.

Taiwan stocks were trading down, though, as were markets in Australia and New Zealand.

Hong Kong stocks were showing the sharpest losses. Its U.S.-linked market is suffering a hangover after the U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut and a fall on Wall Street overnight.

Wall Street slumps on Fed quarter-point trim

Investors had already priced in the quarter-point cut from the Fed, the seventh so far this year. The fed funds rate now stands at 3.50 percent.

They were disappointed there wasn't a clear sign the Fed would cut rates in the future. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 1.4 percent on Tuesday as a result, with Nasdaq dropping 2.7 percent.

But Tokyo stocks shunned America's negative outlook and ended the morning session firmer, climbing 1.6 percent to 11,462.08.

The broader Topix ended the morning up 0.95 percent at 1,169.88.

Kyocera off on profit report

Circuit maker Kyocera Corp. firmed 2.37 percent to 7,790 yen, after falling on a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun that its operating profit would dip to 100 billion yen.

Fellow electronics maker Rohm Co. continues to dribble south, down 1.58 percent to 12,480.

The world's largest bank by assets, Mizuho Holdings, jumped 4.26 percent to 490,000 yen.

Bank watchdog the Financial Services Agency is moving ahead with plans to make banks deal with bad loans and their huge stock holdings.

UFJ Holdings, another of Japan's "Big Four" bank groups, ticked up 2.89 percent to 640,000 yen.

Japan's largest broker, Nomura Securities Co., rose 4.38 percent to 2,265 yen.

On Tuesday, think tank Nomura Research Institute Ltd. said it will sell shares to the public on October 2.

The brokerage owns 5 percent of the think tank. The initial public offering would be up there in terms of profile and size with McDonald's Japan's listing and advertising agency Dentsu's proposed IPO.

Construction companies in Japan were gaining on government plans to spur urban renewal in the next budget.

Sydney down in afternoon

In Sydney, stocks were down in afternoon trade. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was off 0.2 percent at 3,314.1.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia was a leading cause of the drop, down 1.4 percent to A$31.17.

Australia's second-largest bank posted a net annual profit at the lower end of market expectations.

Media group Publishing & Broadcasting, controlled by Australia's richest man, Kerry Packer, posted a full year net loss of A$84.6 million.

The poor result was due to one-off losses of A$397.2 million, mainly from PBL's investment in the failed telecom One.Tel.

Critics faulted Packer's son, James Packer, and Rupert Murdoch's son, Lachlan Murdoch, for not foreseeing disaster with their One.Tel investment.

PBL's shares were initially lower on the result, but recovered to be up two cents at A$9.75.

Building materials group Boral was up 10 cents to A$3.36, after it announced a 2000/01 net profit before one-off items of A$127 million (US$69 million).

Stocks were also down in New Zealand, where the benchmark NZSE-40 Capital index was down 0.8 percent at 2,020.68.

Telecom, U.S. traders down in Hong Kong

Hong Kong stocks fell, as investors were spooked by underlying weakness in the U.S. economy, the territory's second largest export market.

Hong Kong's currency and interest rates are also linked to U.S. rates.

The benchmark Hang Seng index set a 28-month low in morning trade, and was testing the 11,000 mark.

It was trading down 1.5 percent at 11,270.71 just before the lunch break. Turnover was light, though.

China's leading cellular carrier, China Mobile, resumed losses after finally gaining on Tuesday.

Its stock fell 5.5 percent to HK$25.65. It has fallen 26 percent since a disappointing 58 percent jump in earnings last week.

Rival and China cell-phone No. 2 China Unicom was down 3.9 percent to HK$9.85. Legend Holdings, China's top personal computer maker, dropped 2.6 percent to HK$3.775 on growth concerns.

Small-engine maker Johnson Electric, which gets most of its sales in the United States, fell 2.69 percent to HK$9.05 on continued concerns over U.S. economic weakness.

In Seoul, the benchmark Kospi was up 0.4 percent 570.93 at noon, after opening down. It was gaining more ground in afternoon trade.

Troubled chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor was up 2.2 percent to 1,565 won, the heaviest-traded stock.

Seoul's biggest stock Samsung Electronics, and the world memory chip No. 1, was up almost 2 percent to 189,500 won as overseas investors stepped in to buy.

In Taiwan, the benchmark Taiex was down 0.9 percent at 4,521.03 in afternoon trade. Its largest two stocks, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and United Microelectronics, slipped in the morning in reaction to the Fed.

Reuters contributed to this report.