Tokyo mixed, Korea, Taiwan up


Helped by a weaker yen, Honda Motor expects to achieve a record operating profit this year

TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese stocks were mixed by midday Wednesday, with weakness in banks and some technology issues offset by gains among export-oriented carmakers and electronics companies.

Investors in Tokyo were keeping a close eye on the yen, which touched 134 to the U.S. dollar in early Asian trade.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended the morning up 50.18 points or half a percent to 10,101.16, but the broader capital-weighted Topix slipped slightly, losing 2.73 points or 0.28 percent to 982.40.

Elsewhere in the region, markets in Korea, Taiwan and Singapore continued to make gains.

Seoul's Kospi was the strongest performer, adding 9.27 points or 1.28 percent to 733.63 on gains by telco SK Telecom and food group Cheil Jedang, which put on more than 7 percent.

Hong Kong loses ground

But Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down in late morning trade, losing more than 90 points or 0.8 percent to 10,704.

Taiwan's Taiex put on 44.6 points or 0.77 percent to 5848.71, while in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was 5 points higher to 3426 on gains by resources stocks and retailers.

In Japan, leading automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda were all stronger, reflecting potential export gains from a weaker yen.

A steep fall on the U.S. Nasdaq index on Tuesday and the failure of retailer Kmart Corp were issues being watched on the Japanese market.

"Some of the Kmart issue was worked in during the previous session," Hidenori Karaki, equities general manager at Tokyo Mitsubishi Personal Securities, told Reuters news agency. "The data out of the U.S. still points to an economic recovery."

Sony, Matsushita on the move

Consumer electronics leader Sony Corp was up 60 yen or 1 percent to 5810 yen, while rival Matsushita Electric Industrial rose 28 yen or 1.67 percent to 1705 yen.

Honda Motor, which exports to report a record operating profit of 580 billion yen in the year to March 2002, added 70 yen or 1.36 percent to 5230 yen. Nissan rose 2.34 percent to 744 yen and Toyota put on 20 yen or 0.58 percent to 3470 yen.

But Japanese banks once again were battered by the market. UFJ Holdings was down 7000 yen or 2.5 percent to 267,000 yen, while No. 1 bank Mizuho Holdings lost 5000 yen or 1.8 percent to 268,000 yen.

Mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo also slipped, losing 30,000 yen or 2.2 percent to 1.33 million yen. Parent NTT dropped 3 percent to 383,000 yen.