Japan, Korea, Australia all higher


Hynix Semiconductor was among the gainers in Korea Thursday

TOKYO, Japan -- Stock markets in Japan, Korea and Australia were all higher by midday Thursday, lifted by a rise on U.S. markets and specific domestic factors.

Korea's market made the strongest gains, with its Kospi index jumping more than 5 percent as tech issues Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor rose.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average jumped 1.6 percent to break though the 10,000 mark, ending the morning at 10,127.64.

That was despite a warning of a credit rating review Wednesday by ratings agency Moody's Investor Services.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 rose through the 3500-point level to an intra-day high of 3506 before settling back to about 3488.

Confidence on the rise


Japanese tech stocks jumped, but big banks eased by midday

Surveys this week have shown a rise in Australian consumer confidence, and optimism about the economic outlook.

A strong profit result Wednesday from one of Australia's biggest banks, Commonwealth Bank, has also helped market sentiment.

By midday in Tokyo, the Nikkei was up 159.29 points or 1.6 percent to 10,127.64

The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 5.38 points or 0.55 percent to 988.56. Earlier in the day it topped 1000 for the first time since January 28.

Japanese tech stocks and automakers were higher, but big banks eased after opening the day stronger.

Sony Corp was up 110 yen or 1.86 percent to 6030 yen, Kyocera added 270 yen or 3.6 percent to 7760 yen and mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo was steady at 1.44 million yen.

Among the banks, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group was down 23,000 yen or 2.8 percent to 801,000 yen, Mizuho Holdings dropped 4.4 percent to 235,000 yen and UFJ Holdings eased 3 percent to 284,000 yen.

Koizumi, Bush to meet

Helping lift the market is a hope that the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will unveil fresh economic policy steps before he meets U.S. President George W. Bush in Tokyo next Monday.

"Investors are betting some sort of policy response (to tackle deflation and banks' bad loans) will emerge as early as today or as late as tomorrow," Masayoshi Okamoto, a trader at Jujiya Securities, told Reuters news agency.

"This is no longer just short-covering, fresh money seems to be coming in."

Bush arrives in Japan Sunday and will meet Koizumi the following day. Japan's economic outlook and its shaky financial system is on the agenda.

In Seoul, the Kospi was up 37.05 points or 5.01 point to 776.74.

Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics added 28,500 won or 8.8 percent to 349,500 won.

Rival chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor rose 40 won or 1.58 percent to 2570 won on reports Micron Technology would buy it for $4 billion.

Leading Korean automaker Hyundai Motor jumped 2000 won or 6.58 percent to 32,400 won.

Rio Tinto at record

In Australia, resources stock Rio Tinto rose to a record A$41.41, up 2.14 percent on a likely sale of some of its coal interests to MIM.

The other big resources player, BHP Billiton, was up 2.8 percent to A$12.48 ahead of its profit result later Thursday.

Three of the four big banks, NAB, ANZ and CBA traded higher, while Westpac eased.

Market heavyweight News Corp, which on Wednesday reported a December quarter loss of $606 million after writedowns, continued to weaken. It was down 38 cents or almost 3 percent to A$12.39.

In New Zealand, the NZSE Top 40 eased 7.28 points or 0.35 percent to 2082.16.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index was 20 points higher at 1761.22 heading towards midday.

Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.