Japan, Korea fall; HK moves up


The Nikkei eased slightly on Friday to 10,048, down 33 points from Thursday's close of 10,081

TOKYO, Japan -- Most markets in Asia closed mildly lower Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 average easing a third of a percent on weakness among tech stocks.

Korea's Kospi receded almost 1.6 percent from Thursday's 21-month record close, while Australia and New Zealand were marginally lower.

Singapore was flat heading for the close.

But Hong Kong, returning from a three-day break for the Lunar New Year holidays, made good ground Friday.

Its Hang Seng index was up 131.21 points or 1.21 percent to 10,963.95.

In Japan, the Nikkei lost 32.99 points, or 0.33 percent, to 10,048.10. The broader capital weighted Topix index, covering all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange first section, was down 1.54 points, or 0.16 percent, to 982.50.

Consumer electronics leaders Sony, Matsushita Electric, Mitsubishi Electric and Toshiba were all easier.

DoCoMo down


UFJ was the best of the big banks Friday, adding almost 4 percent

Some of the biggest falls were among telcos. NTT DoCoMo lost 20,000 yen or 1.4 percent to 1.42 million yen and its parent NTT dropped 7000 yen or 1.72 percent to 399,000 yen.

KDDI was down 2000 yen or 0.8 percent to 235,000 yen, while Japan Telecom weakened 5000 yen or 1.26 percent to 393,000 yen.

Leading automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda were all higher, putting on between 1.1 and 1.8 percent.

Honda's ASIMO robot was the star of proceedings at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, when it rang the bell to start trading.

Japan's big banks UFJ Holdings, Mizuho Holdings, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking were stronger on optimism about plans to tackle their bad debt loads.

UFJ added 11,000 yen or 3.93 percent to 291,000 yen, while Mizuho put on 5000 yen or 2.16 percent to 237,000 yen. MTFG rose 1.86 percent to 820,000 yen.

On Thursday, the Nikkei average had closed up 112.74 points or 1.13 percent, to add more than 660 points or 7 percent in five trading sessions.

Koizumi, Bush to meet

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi earlier this week directed his Cabinet ministers to prepare more aggressive measures to fight deflation, as the world's second largest economy struggles to free itself from recession.

The Japanese economy and Koizumi's restructuring efforts are expected to be key components of the agenda when Koizumi meets U.S. president George W. Bush in Tokyo on Monday.

Market movements in Asia Friday followed a gain on Wall Street for the Dow Jones industrial average, which put on 12.32 points or 0.12 percent to close at 10,001.99 Thursday. But the Nasdaq composite lost 15.79 points or 0.85 percent to 1843.37.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed down just 6.6 points or 0.19 percent at 3480.4 after going as high as 3491 earlier in the day. It reached a record intra-day high of 3506 on Thursday.

Resources giant BHP Billiton retreated from its record levels set the previous day, losing 4.2 percent or 52 cents to A$11.87. Late Thursday it reported a record half-year profit of close to $1.2 billion.

News recovers

Resources rival Rio Tinto was also lower, down 1.69 percent to A$40.65 after touching a record high of A$41.50 on Thursday.

Market heavyweight News Corp bounced back, adding 45 cents or 3.65 percent to A$12.78.

Big banks National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ all moved ahead, but CBA eased 1.4 percent.

In Seoul, the Kospi eased after big tech issues Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom lost ground.

Samsung Electronics was off 3.8 percent to 341,5000 won and SK Telecom lost 5000 won or just under 2 percent to 250,000 won.

Hynix Semiconductor slumped the 15 percent daily limit to 2015 won on reports its mooted deal with Micron may not suit creditors.

Hyundai Motor was up strongly, putting on 1800 won or 5.45 percent to 34,800 won.

HK bluechips rise

In Hong Kong, bluechip bank HSBC was up 1.1 percent to HK$89.50, while market heavyweight China Mobile rose 3.26 percent to HK$23.75. Its rival in the mobile phone field, China Unicom, was steady at HK$7.75.

In New Zealand, the NZSE Top 40 was off 13.46 points or 0.65 percent to 2068.70.

Singapore's Straits Times index was flat at 1774 heading towards the close.

In contrast, markets in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines closed higher. India's Mumbai BSE also was on the rise in afternoon trading.