Tokyo up at noon as Asia dips


Wal-Mart CFO Charles Holley (L) and Seiyu President Masao Kiuchi announce Wal-Mart will buy into Seiyu over five years

HONG KONG, China -- Asian markets are mostly lower heading into afternoon trade on Friday, after Nasdaq's overnight decline.

But Tokyo stocks are up on growing hopes for brighter prospects in the corporate sector.

The benchmark Nikkei ended the morning up 83.96 points, or 0.73 percent, at 11,652.78, while the broad Topix index of all First Section stocks gained 11.18 points, or 1.03 percent, to 1,095.06.

Gains in blue chips pushed the main indexes higher, on hopes Japan's corporate sector would improve in the next business year.

Elsewhere, tech-sensitive markets such South Korea and Taiwan were both down after tracking Nasdaq's 0.42 percent decline on Thursday.

Australian shares, on the other hand, were weaker by noon on fears of a possible interest rate hike. Singapore was heading higher, with Hong Kong losing ground.

But trade was thin in both markets ahead of the weekend.

Merger and acquisition

Tokyo shares rose on positive sentiment following news that U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart would take a 6.1 percent stake in Seiyu, Japan's No. 5 supermarket chain.

Wal-Mart has also secured option to increase its stake to 66.7 percent by the end of 2007 for 260 billion yen ($2 billion).

Investors could only sell Seiyu, which stands at 460 yen, up by its daily 80-yen limit.

Electronics giant Sony Corp. rose 0.99 percent to 7,160 yen. Its rival Kyocera Corp. soared 4.09 percent to 9,930 yen.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Holdings gained 1.76 percent to 346,000 yen, while Sumitomo Mitsui added 2.16 percent to 568 yen.

Japan's leading mobile phone carrier, NTT DoCoMo, rose 2.4 percent to 1.71 million.

In the auto sector, Toyota Motor added 0.52 percent, while rival Honda Motor rose 2.94 percent to 5,600 yen.

Interest rates

The Australian stock market remained weak to noon on fears of a possible hike in official interest rates as early as mid-year.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 11.6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,440.3 at noon.

A recent string of stronger-than-expected domestic and U.S. economic data has raised fears the Reserve Bank of Australia will soon take back some of last year's easings.

Traders noted that some sectors, particularly interest-rate sensitive stocks like banks, would likely be hurt by the move.

Media giant News Corp slipped 1.5 percent to A$13.62. Transport group Patrick Corp. dropped 1.6 percent to A$16.18.

But building materials group James Hardie rallied 14 cents to an record high of A$6.67 on news it will sell its U.S. -based gypsum operations for $345 million in cash.

Chips down

South Korean shares edged lower as index heavyweight Samsung Electronics tumbled on continued selling.

The chip giant dropped 3.34 percent to 332,500 won after standard memory chip prices fell below $4 on Thursday.

The main Kospi shed 0.78 points, or 0.09 percent, at 856.08. The over-the-counter Kosdaq was up 1.46 points, or 1.67 percent, at 88.95.

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, lost 2.36 percent to stand at 268,500 won, while state-run KT Corp. eased 2 percent to 58,700 won.

South Korea's second largest carmaker, Kia Motor, soared 4.83 percent to 14,100 won.

In Taiwan, shares also slipped by midday as losses in U.S. tech shares begin to rub off on their local counterparts.

The main Taiex dropped 27.56 points, or 0.45 percent, at 6,042.94.

Chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor and United Microelectronics continued their losing run, shedding 1.61 percent and 2.88 percent respectively.

Flat trade

Singapore shares were little changed on thin early morning trade. The Straits Timex Index was up 0.51 percent, at 1,786.85, but climbing as the morning wore on.

Analysts said that the suspension of shares in United Overseas Bank and two of its finance units was a prelude to a privatization announcement, raising hopes of a restructuring in the sector.

In Hong Kong, stocks are slightly lower in morning trade. Renewed optimism over a global economic recovery was offset by losses in conglomerate Citic Pacific.

The Hang Seng Index is down 0.8 percent at 11,213.12.

Shares of Johnson Electric, a maker of small motors with heavy exports to the United States, are up 2.34 percent to HK$10.95.

But leading the early losses among blue chips were shares of Citic Pacific, which were down 0.91 percent at HK$16.30 following its worse than expected 2001 results.

Citic, one of China's biggest conglomerates, announced late Thursday a worse-than-expected 36 percent drop in 2001 earnings.