Nikkei opens higher on banks, techs


Japanese automakers moved higher Monday. Honda jumped more than 5 percent to 4910 yen

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo's key Nikkei average jumped above the 11,000 mark for the first time in a month Monday as investors shrugged off a credit downgrade of Japan by ratings agency Fitch.

Instead, traders said investors were choosing to focus on Wall Street's healthy gains and a weaker yen.

The benchmark Nikkei average reached 11,008.91 in early trade Monday, before easing back to about 10,950. That was still a gain of 254.16 points or 2.36 percent.

The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 22.671 points or 23 percent to 1085.14.

Elsewhere in the region, markets in Australia, New Zealand and Korea were also stronger.

Korea was the best performer, with its Kospi index putting on 17.75 points or 2.75 percent to 662.34 by mid-morning.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up 22 points or 0.66 percent to 3354.9, while New Zealand's Top 40 was up 7.15 points or 0.36 percent to 2011.41.

Sony, Toshiba lead high-tech gains

In Tokyo, tech stocks and automakers moved broadly higher, as did banks.

Consumer electronics leader Sony Corp gained 3.87 percent to 5,910 yen. Chip and computer makers Hitachi, Fujitsu, Toshiba and NEC also gained, with Toshiba putting on 3.1 percent to 561 yen.

Honda Motor, Japan's third-largest automaker, leapt 5.36 percent to 4,910 yen while market leader Toyota Motor added 1.84 percent to 3320 yen and second-ranked Nissan was up almost 4.6 percent to 617 yen.

Isuzu Motors Ltd was up 4.95 percent or five yen at 106 yen. Japan's largest maker of light trucks said on Monday it would cut personnel costs by around 90 billion yen ($724 million) by March 2004, which should be the equivalent of 3,200 to 3,300 more job cuts.

Isuzu has already announced plans to slash 9,700 jobs by March 2004 as part of a three-year restructuring plan.

Banks pushing ahead with reform plans

Japan's major banks were actively bought on signs they are stepping up long-awaited restructuring efforts and taking a more active stance on cleaning up their massive bad loans.

Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank by assets, was up 4.87 percent or 17,000 yen at 366,000.

Mizuho will unveil interim results later in the day. Those results may show a forecast group net loss of 600 billion yen in the full year to March 2002, and an increase in the number of job cuts from its initial plan of 7,400 to about 10,000 by March 2006.

Last week, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Asahi Bank and UFJ Holdings forecast losses for this year as they boost loan-loss charges to guard against risky borrowers. SMBC rose 3.09 percent to 768 yen

Reuters contributed to this report.