Asian markets buoyed by earnings


The Nikkei rose as investors bid up Sony and Toshiba ahead of earnings this week

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday, with the Nikkei index getting a lift from optimism over profits in Japan.

The benchmark Nikkei index closed up 0.13 percent at 11,736.83. But the broader Topix index closed lower by a similar margin, down 0.13 percent at 11,736.83.

Asian markets in general shook off Monday's poor showing on Wall Street. Stocks in South Korea gained half a percent, with Singapore and Hong Kong both surging.

Hong Kong, a laggard over the last year, was the strongest gainer on Tuesday.

Australia and New Zealand lost a little ground, however. Taiwanese stocks fell more than 1 percent, after the Taiex set a 19-month high the day before.

Big players later this week

In Tokyo, investors are still looking toward earnings from NEC, Sony and Toshiba this week.


Fresh polls show Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity is at another record low, one year after he took office

But investors said most of the anticipated good news this earnings season may already have been factored into the market.

NEC climbed 0.48 percent for a second day of gains, to close at 1,037 yen. But Sony fell 1.54 percent to 7,040 yen after hitting a five-week high on Monday.

Toshiba climbed 0.35 percent to 579 yen, after it closed the sale of its Virginia memory chip operations to Micron Technology of the United States.

NTT DoCoMo dealt tech and telecom bulls a blow, falling 2.05 percent to 335,000 yen. It suffered in line with telecom companies worldwide, after some disappointing earnings from Ericsson and WorldCom.

Hong Kong Asia's leader

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 1.85 percent, making it the star performer among Asia's main indexes.

After large losses on Monday, China cell phone plays rebounded. China Mobile jumped 3.4 percent to HK$24.55, and China Unicom similarly rose 3.4 percent to HK$7.65.

Oil company CNOOC climbed 2.9 percent to HK$10.60, with oil prices moving higher.

In Singapore, Creative Technology was dominating trading after posting better-than-expected earnings of $15.1 million for the third quarter (full story).

The Straits Times index is up 0.77 percent at 1,740.90 in the last hour of trade.

India's stock market is also moving ahead, with the main Bombay Stock Exchange index up 0.39 percent at 3,403.57.

Hynix down after deal

In Seoul, the main South Korea index, the Kospi, rallied 0.52 percent to end at 925.70. It has been a persistently strong performer so far in 2002.

But memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor fell the daily 15 percent maximum allowed in Korea, down 14.5 percent on this day to 1,005 won.

It said it has signed a preliminary deal of its own with Micron Technology on Monday. But investors are dubious about the prospects of the sale or the benefits to Hynix, and workers have threatened to strike (full story).

That sale would make Micron the biggest memory chipmaker in the world. It would edge off Samsung Electronics, the largest listing on the Seoul exchange.

Samsung rose 4.1 percent to 427,000 won, a carry through of its strong earnings from Friday.

Korea Exchange Bank, Hynix's lead creditor, fell 3.6 percent to 8,990 won.

Banks lower in Taiwan

In Taiwan, the Taiex came off yesterday's high to the tune of 1.1 percent, down to 6,390.62. Banks sold off after their strong restructuring-linked gains.

Investors figure 6,300 to 6,500 is a solid near-term range for the index.

Taiwan's chipmakers gained from news of the Micron-Hynix deal, which would remove one competitor from the market.

Mosel Vitelic and Winbond Electronics were up 2.8 percent and 1.5 percent.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 0.3 percent to 3,403.9. News Corp., the largest listing in Sydney, fell 1.9 percent to A$12.65.

Media companies in general were lower after Southern Cross Broadcasting warned it was experiencing an advertising slump.

ANZ Bank hit A$18.95, a new record high, with larger rival Westpac also gaining. Westpac said it will buy Rothschild Asset Management for A$323 million.

In Wellington, the New Zealand Top 40 dropped 0.26 percent to 2,052.67. Telecom New Zealand was also weaker, down 1 percent to NZ$4.86.

Reuters contributed to this report.