Nikkei lower as jobless rate hits record

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks opened lower Friday after fresh data showed the country's unemployment rate rose to a record 5.4 percent in October.

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, which had finished up 0.29 percent at 10,655.96 on Thursday, was 35.5 points lower at 10,620.46 in early trade Friday.

The broader capital-weighted Topix was flat, just into the red at 1047.47.

Korea, Australia higher

Other markets in Asia-Pacific were higher, with the Kospi in Seoul jumping almost 2.4 percent or 14.97 points to 643.83.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up 30 points or almost 1 percent to 3359.5 amid gains by key resources stocks, while New Zealand's NZSE Top 40 up a third of a percent to 2082.98, and

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.

Tech stocks generally higher

In Tokyo, tech stocks were generally higher. Consumer electronics giant Sony rose 30 yen to 5780 yen, while chipmakers Toshiba, NEC and Hitachi were also higher.

But Fujitsu Ltd was down margainlly. 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 1.86 percent to 1.64 million yen.

Dentsu Inc, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, opened Friday at 420,000 yen. Its market capitalization stands at 584.2 billion yen, making it one of Japan's largest IPOs this year.

Reuters contributed to this report.