Stocks in Japan, Australia moving up


Prime Minister Koizumi will discuss Japan's flagging economy when he meets U.S. President Bush in Tokyo on Monday

TOKYO, Japan -- Stock markets in Japan and Australia were powering higher in early trade Thursday, lifted by a rise on Wall Street and domestic factors.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average rose more than two percent Thursday morning to break though the 10,000 mark.

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

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

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.

Nikkei cracks 10,000 mark

By mid-morning in Tokyo, the Nikkei was up 231.66 points or 2.32 percent to 10,200.01

The broader capital-weighted TOPIX index rose 17.18 points or 1.75 percent to 1,000.36, before easing back to about 999. It was the first time it had topped 1000 since January 28,

Tech stocks, automakers and big banks were all higher.


Japanese bank stocks were stronger in early trade Thursday

Sony Corp was up 1.35 percent to 6000 yen, mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo added 20,000 yen or 1.4 percent to 1.46 million yen, while Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group was up 12,000 yen or 1.46 percent to 836,000 yen.

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, Koizumi to meet

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 Australia, resources stocks BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rose, as did the four big banks, NAB, CBA, ANZ and Westpac.

Market heavyweight News Corp, which on Wednesday reported a December quarter loss of $606 million after writedowns, continued to weaken. It was down 19 cents or 1.5 percent to A$12.58.

In New Zealand, the NZSE Top 40 was down 6.28 points or 0.3 percent to 2083.16.