Tokyo down as jobless rate soars

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks were lower by midday Friday after the government said the country's unemployment rate rose to a record 5.4 percent in October.

In contrast, markets in Hong Kong and Korea were up strongly

While Japanese tech stocks strengthened, banks and automakers were lower.

In other economic data out Friday morning, Japan's core consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.7 percent in the same period, dropping for the 25th straight month.

The Nikkei was 70.53 points or 0.66 percent lower at 10,585.43 by midday. The previous day, it had finished up 0.29 percent at 10,655.96.

The broader capital-weighted Topix was flat, down 3.41 points or 0.33 percent to 1045.098.9.

Hong Kong, Korea up strongly

Other markets in Asia-Pacific were mainly higher, with the Kospi in Seoul jumping almost 2 percent or 12.51 points to 641.37. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics put on 9000 won or 4.3 percent to 219,000 won.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was also up strongly, putting on 250 points or 2.25 percent to 11,340.79 in late morning trade. Diversified conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa rose 3.2 percent to HK$72.25.

Similarly, Singapore's Straits Times index was up about 1.8 percent to 1480 going into the midday break.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 13.2 points or 0.4 percent to 3342.7 amid gains by key resources stocks. Telcos and market heavyweight News Corp were also higher.

At one stage in the morning the index was up about 1 percent.

In New Zealand, the NZSE Top 40 slipped just into the red, down 1.05 points to 2075.07 after being in the black for most of the morning.

Dow, Nasdaq end higher

On Wall Street, the Enron debacle was not enough to keep U.S. stocks from closing higher Thursday, after orders for durable goods logged their biggest gain on record in October.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 1.21 percent at 9,829.42, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 2.4 percent to 1,933.26.

In Tokyo, tech stocks were generally higher. Consumer electronics giant Sony rose 40 yen to 5790 yen, while chipmakers Toshiba, NEC and Hitachi were also higher.

Fujitsu Ltd was up 0.4 percent to 1024 yen. It said Friday morning it would close its semiconductor manufacturing facility in Oregon by January due to the continuing slump in the global semiconductor market.

Mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo Inc, whose weighting in the MSCI will rise sharply from November 1 under new free-float criteria, was up 1.24 percent to 1.63 million yen.

Automakers were weaker, with Toyota, Nissan and Honda off by 1.5 to 3 percent.


Mizuho Holdings and other banks were weaker at midday in Tokyo

Big banks were also down, with Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, losing 4.7 percent to 303,000 yen. MTFG was off 1.75 percent to 842,000 yen.

Dentsu Inc, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, opened Friday at 420,000 yen, but slipped 3.5 percent to 405,000 yen. At the opening bell, its market capitalization was 584.2 billion yen, making it one of Japan's largest stock offerings this year.

Reuters contributed to this report.