Japan, Australia open strongly


Investors are hoping for fresh policy action to tackle deflation in Japan

TOKYO, Japan -- Stocks in Japan moved higher Wednesday morning on investors' hopes of fresh action from the Japanese government to tackle deflation.

Markets in Australia and New Zealand similarly moved ahead strongly after a good profit result from leading bank Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

But Australian media heavyweight News Corp eased after reporting a $606 million second-quarter loss, largely through writedowns.

Most other markets in Asia are closed this week for the Lunar New Year holidays, as people celebrate the start of the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac.

A weaker Wall Street, where both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite fell on Tuesday, seemed to have little impact in early Japanese trading.

Nikkei, Topix on the rise

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average was up almost 30 points or 0.37 percent at 9914.31 by mid-morning.

The broader, capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 3.15 points or 0.32 percent to 977.25.

Bank shares gained ground on hopes for bolder policy measures from the Koizumi government to help resolve bad-loan problems, including an injection of public funds.

Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, was up 4000 yen or 1.65 percent to 247,000 yen.

Rival UFJ Holdings also rose 4000 yen or 1.4 percent to 287,000 yen while Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp gained 0.21 percent to 471 yen.

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group was up 3000 yen or 0.37 percent to 824,000 yen.

"There is still speculation in the market that some policy measures will come out ahead of (U.S. President George W.) Bush's visit to Japan this weekend," Shinji Fujinaga, deputy general manager at Mizuho Investors Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Banks strong in Australia

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 4 points or 0.11 percent to 3485.1, close to its June 2001 record closing high of 3490.

Resources leader BHP Billiton was up 19 cents or 1.6 percent to A$12.11. It is expected to report a strong first-half profit on Thursday.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia added 53 cents or 1.65 percent to A$32.67 after it said first-half net profit rose 6 percent to a record A$1.2 billion ($611 million). Rival NAB was up 0.73 percent.

But News Corp fell more than 2 percent to A$13.22. The market heavyweight reported a December quarter loss of $606 million after writedowns of $809 million from its pending sale of Italian pay TV venture Stream and in the value of its broadcast sports contracts.

New Zealand's NZSE Top 40 was 3.99 points or 0.19 percent higher at 2089.40.