Tokyo opens higher on U.S. optimism


Mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo was higher Wednesday, but No. 3 telco Japan Telecom eased

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks jumped higher at the opening Wednesday, following on from Wall Street's optimism about the war in Afghanistan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average was up 1.54 percent or 154.58 points at 10,185.14.The broader, capital-weighted TOPIX index gained 11.35 points or 1.15 percent to 1,028.19.

That more than erased the falls of the previous day, triggered by the crash of an American Airlines jet in New York with the loss of more than 260 passengers, crew and people on the ground.

Japanese tech stocks Sony and Toshiba, along with big banks UFJ and Mizuho Holdings, led the rally. Automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda were also up.

Tokyo's strong showing came after an equally buoyant showing on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 2 percent to 9750.95 and the Nasdaq composite put on 51.98 points or 2.8 percent to 1892.11.

Other markets in the region were also stronger.

Australia, NZ, Korea all up

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 40.2 points or 1.2 percent to 3331.7. Miner WMC continued to gain on speculation that a bid from Alcoa is imminent. Other resources stocks and major banks were also up strongly.

In New Zealand, the Top 40 put on 0.7 percent, adding 14.88 points to 2025.75 after the central bank cut interest rates by half a percentage point to 4.75 percent and forecast growth of 3 percent.

In Seoul, the Kospi was up 6.51 points or 1.1 percent to 595.32. Hynix Semiconductor continued to soar, putting on 4.5 percent to 1715 won, after reports its creditors may sell or merge it with another chipmaker. Market heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom also rose strongly.

Sony, Toshiba higher

In Tokyo, consumer electronics giant Sony was up 3.3 percent to 4960 yen, while leading chipmaker Toshiba was 4.65 percent higher, adding 22 yen to 495 yen.

Sharp Corp, Japan's biggest liquid crystal display maker, was up 3.3 percent at 1,441 yen. Sharp attracted investors after the company said it and Cisco Systems had jointly developed high-speed wireless communications technology to connect home-use audio equipment and computers.

Japan Airlines was up 2.44 percent to 294 yen, while merger partner Japan Air System was unchanged at 3,650 yen. Their domestic rival All Nippon Airways slipped 1.3 percent to 309 yen.

Japan Telecom was a rare loser, down 6000 yen to 398,000 yen after it revised its earnings outlook. Mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo was up almost 2 percent to 1.59 million yen.

Reuters contributed to this report.