Nikkei jumps as weak yen boosts techs


Shanghai B shares and other stocks across Asia were mainly higher Tuesday, led by gains in Japan

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks jumped higher by midday Tuesday, building on Wall Street's gains and optimism about techs in the light of a weaker yen.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average finished the morning up 219.95 points or 2.13 percent, to 10,543.30.

The broader, capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 14.24 points or 1.44 percent to 1003.22. That followed its 1.77 percent fall Monday to its worst finish since October 15, 1998.

The yen was trading weaker at 128.15 to the U.S. dollar about midday Tuesday, after falling to a three-year low on Monday of 128.02.

A weak yen usually encourages buying of Japanese high-tech issues and automakers because it inflates exporters' overseas profits when repatriated.

Canon, Sony make gains

Among tech stocks, copier and camera maker Canon Inc soared 6.5 percent or 280 yen to 4590 yen, while consumer electronics giant Sony Corp added 210 yen or 3.66 percent to 5940 yen.

"These stocks which usually benefit from a weak yen couldn't react to it yesterday because the overall market was dragged down by the falling banking sector," Hiroshi Sato, equities manager at Cosmo Securities, told Reuters news agency.

"So, today's tactics are simple -- let's buy these battered issues," he said.

In the auto sector, second-ranked Nissan Motor gained 4.64 percent to 631 yen and its bigger rival Toyota Motor Corp rose 1.17 percent to 3020 yen. Third-ranked Honda was up only slightly, putting on 10 yen or 0.2 percent to 4850 yen.

Banks also fared better, recapturing some of Monday's losses. Mizuho Holdings, which closed Monday at 224,000 yen, put on 3.57 percent or 8000 yen to 232,000 yen.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp added 4 percent to 515 yen after closing Monday at a record low of 495 yen.

But in the telco sector, NTT DoCoMo and its parent NTT were both weaker, as were KDDI Corp and Japan Telecom. DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile phone company, eased 20,000 yen or 1.36 percent to 1.45 million yen.

Australia, Korea, HK all stronger

Elsewhere in the region, markets in Australia, Korea and Hong Kong were all stronger by midday Tuesday, as was Singapore in late morning trade.

But Taiwan and New Zealand weakened, with the Taiex down 1 percent to 5398 and New Zealand's Top 40 off 1.24 percent to 2020.28.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 27 points or 0.82 percent to 3316.7, lifted by market heavyweight News Corp. Miners, telcos and banks were all higher as part of a broad strengthening.

In Seoul, chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor helped take the Kospi 7.48 points or 1.15 percent higher to 655.76.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up about 70 points or 0.6 percent to 11,531 heading towards midday, while in Singapore the Straits Times index was up 19.39 points or 1.2 percent to 1577.84.

In China, the Shanghai B share index was marginally higher, up 0.14 percent to 168.672.

Reuters contributed to this report.