Tokyo easier, Korean stocks higher


The yen continued to weaken Wednesday, helping the share price of some tech stocks such as Canon

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks were easier by midday Wednesday, with a further slide in the yen supporting major exporters such as Canon and Sony but telco stocks declining.

Trade was very light, reflecting the lack of participation from foreign investors as Wall Street took off Tuesday for Christmas.

After spending most of the morning in positive territory, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average slipped to be down 10.02 points or 0.1 percent to 10,244.79. The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index lost 4.09 points or 0.4 percent to 998.73.

The yen weakened to hit a fresh three-year low of 131.02 to the U.S. dollar in morning trade.

"The yen is boosting some of the techs and autos, but the size of that boost is clearly disappointing," Masayoshi Okamoto, a trader at Jujiya Securities, told Reuters news agency.

"If the yen softens well past 131 and Kyocera, Sony and others are still only up modestly, investors could become disheartened and take the Nikkei south," he said.

Australia, Hong Kong closed


Canon expects to turn in a bigger profit than originally forecast

Australia, New Zealand Hong Kong and some other markets in the region were closed Wednesday.

In Seoul, the Kospi was up 8.49 points or 1.3 percent to 654.86, as Hynix Semiconductor made strong gains on talk it would sign an alliance with U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology next month.

In Taiwan, the Taiex continued to rise, putting on another 17.7 points to 5390.73 after going as high as 5481. Selected tech stocks such as Quanta Computer, Asustek, Via and Gigabyte were higher.

In Tokyo, Canon rose 1.14 percent to 4450 yen after Japan's largest maker of office equipment said Wednesday it expects its group net profit for the year ending this month to be bigger than its earlier forecast of 161 billion yen ($1.23 billion).

Sony, Kyocera rise

Among other major tech exporters to gain on the weaker yen were consumer electronics giant Sony Corp, which added 30 yen or 0.5 percent to 5600 yen, and electronics parts maker Kyocera Corp, which was up 0.6 percent to 8250 yen.

While a weaker yen can lift the value of overseas earnings and battle deflation, the market is also concerned a surge in the greenback would displease foreign investors by making their Japanese assets less attractive.

In the auto sector, Nissan Motor, Japan's number-two automaker, jumped 3.36 percent to 676 yen, while number-one ranked Toyota Motor Corp was unchanged at 3170 yen.

Major banking stocks inched higher after Daiwa Bank Holdings said late on Tuesday that it would swap its shares with Asahi Bank on a one-to-one basis in a business integration due next year.

The conversion rate was in line with expectations, but the news gave relief to a market that had been concerned about the fate of Asahi and the planned holding company.

Asahi, the most heavily traded issue by volume on the first section, put on 4.17 percent to 75 yen, while Daiwa rose 2.74 percent to 75.

DoCoMo, other telcos slip

Telco shares slipped, with NTT DoCoMo down 2.03 percent to 1.45 million yen and its parent NTT down 2.9 percent to 401,000 yen. KDDI was off 2.7 percent to 253,000 yen, while Japan Telecom lost 1.1 percent to 368,000 yen.

DoCoMo, which is Japan's top mobile phone operator, lost almost 2 percent on Tuesday after it said late last Friday it would buy new shares in AT&T Wireless Services Inc to maintain its 16 percent stake in the U.S. mobile operator.

Reuters contributed to this report.