Wall Street pushes Asian markets higher


Wall Street's gains helped lift Tokyo and other Asian markets Wednesday

HONG KONG, China -- Asian markets rose by midday Wednesday, lifted by Wall Street's gain and upbeat consumer confidence in the United States.

In Tokyo, shares moved higher after Nasdaq's modest rise spurred light bargain hunting in tech shares.

The Nikkei 225 average firmed 138.62 points, or 1.24 percent, to 11,346.54, while the broader capital-weighted Topix index was up 10.65 points, or 1.0 percent, at 1,704.80.

Japanese export-linked stocks such as automakers and electronics producers rose. Strong consumer confidence numbers in the U.S. reinforced hopes that the world's biggest economy and Asia's major trading partner is on the way to recovery.

In other markets, South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong were all lifted by a rise in blue chips. Taiwan eased a little from the 18-month high it reached Tuesday.

In the U.S. the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.7 percent Tuesday, while the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.64 percent.

Exporters up

Leading the winners in Tokyo was Toyota Motor. Japan's top automaker rose 1.08 percent to 3,740 yen, while Honda Motor added 0.74 percent to 5,480 yen. Nissan eased 3 yen to 917 yen.

In the tech sector, Kyocera Corp, the world's biggest maker of ceramic packages for semiconductors, rose 1.3 percent to 9,320 yen.

Japan's dominant mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo rose 3.3 percent at 344,000 yen.

Banking giant Mizuho Holdings climbed 3.03 percent to 306,000 yen, while Sumitomo Mitsui surged 6.38 percent to 550 yen.

Technology shares firmed in Seoul, with the benchmark Kospi up 11.56 points, or 1.3 percent, at 892.59. The over-the-counter Kosdaq edged up 0.6 percent to 93.12.

Chip titan Samsung Electronics rose 3.72 percent to 362,000 won, while Hynix Semiconductor gained 3.78 percent to 1,510 won.

Banks, mining higher

Australian stocks broke a four-day losing run as strength in resources and banks propelled the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index to a gain of 25.0 points, or 0.7 percent, to 3,409.4 by midday.

Market heavyweight News Corp rose 1.5 percent to A$13.27.

Resources giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto gained 2.3 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

The four major banks also returned to favor. Westpac added 1.2 percent to A$15.59.

Shares in Australia's largest retailer Coles Myer also recovered Tuesday's losses, to gain 0.6 percent to A$8.50.

In Taiwan, the Taiex index initally rose but by midday it was down 30.19 points, or 0.48 percent, to 6,212.45.

Shares of Behavior Tech, a DVD-ROM maker, surged T$2.20, or the daily maximum to T$34.50.

Ritek, one of Taiwan's largest optical disc makers, rose T$0.40, or 0.96 percent, to T$42.00.

Upbeat news

Singapore shares started positively due to encouraging news from Singapore Press Holdings and OCBC Bank.

The bellwether Straits Times Index was up 10.95 points, or 0.61 percent, at 1,805.06.

OCBC rose 1.5 percent to S$13.80 after it named former Citibank official David Conner as its new head too replace outgoing chief Alex Au.

Media conglomerate Singapore Press Holdings climbed 3.8 percent to S$24.80 after unveiling late on Tuesday a better than expected set of first half results.

In Hong Kong, stocks were higher during morning trade after upbeat consumer confidence from the United States.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 120 points or 1.14 percent at 10,906 in late morning trade.

Banking leader HSBC put on half a percent to HK$89.25. Hutchison Whampoa added 1.86 percent to HK$68.50, and China Mobile was up 2.4 percent to HK$23.50.

Among the top gainers were shares of micro motor maker Johnson Electric, rising 1.95 percent to HK$10.45.

Elsewhere, shares of China's largest offshore oil producer, CNOOC, added 1.61 percent to HK$9.45 ahead of the release of its full year results later in the day.

The firm is expected to report that earnings fell over 20 percent in 2001 due to lower oil prices.

But analysts expect investors to focus on the firm's plans to maintain strong production growth through acquisitions and exploration at home and abroad.