Nikkei leads Asia to higher close


NTT DoCoMo, which launched its commercial 3G service this week, was among the top gainers on the Tokyo market Thursday

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japan's stock market led the region higher Thursday, closing above 10,200 on optimism over Wall Street's gains and a $75 billion spending plan by U.S. president George Bush.

The prospect of a U.S economic stimulus package saw Asian markets make a broad advance, helped by an interest rate cut in the Philippines, following cuts in Taiwan and Australia on Wednesday.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 average put on 281.25 points to 10,205.48, closing a solid 2.83 percent higher as it enjoyed a boost from Sony, Fujitsu and other technology stocks.

The Nikkei's close was just below the intra-day high of 10,215 it reached during the morning.

The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 1.98 percent or 20.84 points to 1071.19.

Korea, HK, Australia higher

Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and other markets in the region also jumped, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rising through the 10,000 barrier to be up more than 3.6 percent.

Hong Kong banking giant HSBC, property stocks and leading telcos China Mobile and China Unicom were among the big gainers.


Korean technology stocks including SK Telecom rose sharply after a three-day trading break

Australia's S&P/ASX200 closed up 4.7 points or 0.15 percent with media giant News Corp up 2.2 percent to A$13.09 and ANZ Bank also up 2.2 percent to A$16.69.

Seoul's Kospi returned from a three-day holiday break to close more than 4.3 percent higher at 500.64.

Korean chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor soared 7.9 percent to 955 won, Samsung Electronics rose 3.9 percent to 145,500 won and leading telco SK Telecom was up 7.2 percent to 223,000 won.

Taiwan, which has steadily declined in recent weeks, put on 1.4 percent to 3493.66, while Singapore's Straits Times index was up about 3.2 percent to 1378.92 in late afternoon trading.

In Manila, the PSE composite index was up half a percent to 1094.93. The Philippines cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points Thursday, following similar cuts of 0.25 percentage points the day before in Australia and Taiwan.

Sony, other techs surge ahead

In Japan, consumer electronics giant Sony jumped almost 6.8 percent to 4250 yen. Sony, which makes about 30 percent of its sales in the United States, issued a profit warning last week that sent its stock to a 33-month closing low on Wednesday.

Toshiba Corp, Japan's top producer of chips, surged 7.96 percent to 461, underlining an advance for the sector following the Philadelphia semiconductor index's 9.64 percent spike higher.

NEC Corp added 10.1 percent to 1024 yen and Fujitsu put on 3.4 percent to 941 yen after both said they would be temporarily suspending output at their chip plants.

Mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo jumped almost 5 percent to 1.69 million yen.

In the U.S., the tech-laden Nasdaq index rose 5.93 percent Wednesday to 1,580.81 after Cisco Systems Inc, the world's largest maker of Web gear, stood by financial targets and President George W. Bush proposed up to $75 billion in additional pump-priming for the U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average topped 9000 for the first time since September 17, putting on 173.19 points or percent to 9123.78.

"It felt solid. It felt real (the U.S. jump)," Robert Jameson, senior sales trader for Japanese equities at Instinet in Japan, told Reuters news agency. "I think there is some confidence slowly coming back."

Carmakers make solid gains

Japanese carmakers, which are heavily dependent on the North American market, also firmed. Top-ranked Toyota Motor Corp jumped 4.66 percent to 3370 yen, paring Wednesday's 4.73 percent drop.

Nissan put on 5.3 percent to 530 yen, while third-ranked Honda was up 2.4 percent to 4200 yen.

But caution remained in the market amid dwindling profits and a mountain of bad debts crippling the financial system.

Analysts said these concerns were likely to keep the Nikkei near its 10,292 close on September 11 before the terror attacks on the U.S. stoked fears of a global recession.

"The supply/demand balance has improved significantly due to institutional investors allocating funds at the start of the fiscal year's second half," Hirokazu Yuihama, strategist at Daiwa Institute of Research, told Reuters.

"But uncertainty still reigns and selling pressure by banks is quite strong above 10,200," he added.

Reuters contributed to this report.