Nikkei hangs onto gains; HK higher


Honda and other automakers saw their share prices dip in Tokyo Friday

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks stayed higher by midday Friday, buoyed by Wall Street's strong performance on Thursday.

Consumer electronics giant Sony and other tech issues helped the market open firmer before it eased towards the end of the morning session.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average was up 0.35 percent or 38.45 points at 10,918.55, after touching 11,020 earlier in the session.

The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index was flat, putting on just a third of a point or 0.03 percent to 1,108.15.

On Thursday in the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average ended 1.25 percent higher at 9462.90, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 2.54 percent or 43.93 points to 1775.47.

Korea in red, but Australia up

Other markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mainly higher Friday, though Korea's Kospi slipped just into the red, down 0.69 of a point to 541.50.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up 15.1 points or 0.46 percent to 3269.8 with the big banks leading the way, while New Zealand's Top 40 was up 6.13 points or 0.32 percent to 1933.37.

Hong Kong, resuming trading after a public holiday Thursday, was firmer in early trade to be up 1.5 percent or 157 points to 10,401 just before midday.

Banking leader HSBC and conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa led the blue-chip rally, while China Mobile was up 2 percent.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index was up 8.61 points or 0.6 percent to 1417.79 by late morning.

Sony gains despite quarterly loss

In Japan, chip-related shares such as Fujitsu, Toshiba and NEC initially followed their U.S. peers higher before easing into the red, while consumer electronics giant Sony rose despite posting a quarterly loss Thursday.

But automakers gave up some of the previous day's gains, with Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors joining Toyota on the downward trend.

Nissan had the biggest loss, dropping 6.3 percent to 581 yen, after investors reconsidered CEO Carlos Ghosn's comments the previous day about the value of Nissan's alliance with Renault.

Tokyo Electron, which makes chip equipment, rose 0.87 percent to 5830 yen, tracking a 5.26 percent surge in the Philadelphia semiconductor index. At one point in the morning session it reached 6100 yen.

Japan's top producer of chips, Toshiba Corp, which is due to announce half-year results later in the day, eased 1.5 percent to 527 yen.

Sony was up 3.5 percent to 4950 yen by midday after touching 5050 yen earlier.

Sony, the world's largest audiovisual electronics maker said late Thursday it slipped into the red on a group operating basis in the July-September quarter.

"But Sony kept its full year forecast intact and I think the market is, for the time being, cheering that," Masafumi Nakayama, strategist at Mito Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Reuters contributed to this report.