Nikkei, other Asian markets end higher


Investors are getting ready for Japanese companies to close their half-year books on Friday

TOKYO, Japan -- Asian markets closed mainly higher Thursday, with Japan's key Nikkei index just making it into the black in late trading.

Investors are positioning themselves for the end of half-yearly and quarterly accounting Friday.

The Nikkei 225 finished the day just 0.57 percent or 54.83 points higher at 9,696.53, while the broader capital-weighted TOPIX index gained 0.55 percent or 5.50 points to 1,003.78.

Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong all made gains, but Korea ended flat and Taiwan gave up 57 points or 1.6 per cent to 3567.73

Singapore was about 2.3 percent higher in late afternoon trade at 1306, while in Mumbai the BSE Sensex was trading up about 1.5 percent at 2706.

DoCoMo, Toyota point way for Japanese stocks

Large-cap firms such as mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo and Toyota Motor Corp took the Tokyo market higher, but there was softness in the banking sector ahead of half-year book-closing on Friday.


Stocks in Japanese carmakers Honda, Nissan and Toyota rose Thursday

Toyota, Japan's top automaker, rose 3.33 percent to 2,945 yen, helped by a softer yen. Second-ranked Nissan rose 2.7 percent to 492 yen, while third-ranked Honda jumped 5.8 percent or 210 yen to 3830 yen.

"There's uncertainty in the market and investors are looking to large-cap shares for relative safety," Masatoshi Sato, manager at the equity division of Mizuho Investors Securities, told Reuters news agency.

"Trade was directionless pre-book-closing, though, and concerns about U.S. retaliation and its economy kept buying in check," Sato said.

The prospect of latent losses on banks' vast shareholdings continued to weigh on banking giant Mizuho Holdings and its rivals.

Japanese banks make good gains

Mizuho slipped 2.09 percent to 469,000 yen, while Sumitomo Mitsui Banking was off 2.47 percent at 869 yen and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group lost 2 percent to 935,000 yen.

Most domestic fund managers will close their books on Friday. Japanese banks are required for the first time to account for equity portfolios at market, not book, value.

Fresh from a visit to the United States, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi repeated his promise to compile an extra budget for the current fiscal year, focusing on steps to promote reforms while keeping new government bond issuance below 30 trillion yen ($254 billion).

NTT DoCoMo jumped 4.73 percent to 1.55 million yen ahead of its planned launch next week of the world's first commercial third-generation network.

Its parent, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp rose 3.4 percent to 548,000 yen.

Hang Seng jumps 2.4 percent

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 229.04 points or 2.4 percent to 9600.79, powered by good gains by property giants Sun Hung Kai Properties and Cheung Kong Holdings. Heavyweights HSBC, China Mobile and China Unicom also rose.

Cathay Pacific, which announced it was suspending flights to Pakistan Thursday, eased 2.2 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 ended 0.3 percent higher, putting on 9.7 points to 3000.7.

News Corp finished the day 1.7 percent lower at A$12.11. Banks were mixed, with the ANZ and Westpac up, but CBA and NAB down.

Reuters contributed to this report.