Asian markets mixed by midday


Shares in Korea Airlines soared on hopes the World Cup soccer finals, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, will lift earnings

HONG KONG, China -- Asian markets were mixed by midday Tuesday, with Tokyo falling on pressure from a protracted slide on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei average finished the morning down 89.14 points, or 0.77 percent, at 11,452.25, while the capital-weighted Topix index fell 5.35 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,081.88.

In other markets, Australia and Taiwan both tracked Wall Street's overnight slump, but South Korea and Singapore rose on bargain hunting and upbeat earnings from blue chip issues.

Hong Kong was flat as falling telecom shares weighed on the market.

Wall Street extended its losing run Monday on uncertainty over a U.S. economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 90.85 points, or 0.92 percent, to 9,819.87, while the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index shed 6.96 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,656.93.

Tech, auto down

In Tokyo, Japanese high-tech firms and auto exporters faltered on a rise in the yen, which traded at about 127.9 to the dollar at midday.

High-tech bellwether Sony fell 3.06 percent to 6980 yen, and Toyota Motor Corp lost 0.85 percent to 3510 yen.

But Honda Motor bucked the trend and rose 3.76 percent to 5790 yen after an upbeat earnings announcement on Friday.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Holdings climbed 4.23 percent to 271,000 yen, while Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp added 1.61 percent to 569 yen. UFJ was up 1.28 percent to 317,000 yen.

In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi was up 0.62 percent at 843.71 by midday, while the over-the-counter Kosdaq rose 0.45 percent to 74.03.

Top memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 0.8 percent to 384,000 won, but rival Hynix Semiconductor plunged limit-down 15 percent to 770 yen.The Hynix board is due to meet later Tuesday to decide whether to accept a $3 billion offer by U.S. rival Micron Technology.

Daewoo Motor Sales, a proxy for unlisted Daewoo Motor Co, tumbled 5.1 percent to 8730 won after GM said it would sign an agreement to buy Daewoo assets and set up a joint venture.

Korean Air Line soared 8.2 percent to 19,800 won on hopes it would cash in on the World Cup soccer finals being co-hosted by Japan and Korea.

Resources up

Australian shares were lower by midday, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index down 0.28 percent, or 9.5 points, to 3343.3.

Media giant News Corp fell 1.6 percent, or 20 cents, to A$12.12.

But resources leader BHP Billiton was up 2.3 percent at A$10.79, and rival Rio Tinto rose 1.6 percent to A$35.91.

Australian gold stocks were also higher, with Lihir Gold adding 0.7 percent to A$1.37 and Aurion Gold up 0.3 percent to A$3.09.

In Taiwan, the main Taiex stock index gave up 1.35 percent to 6,121.04.

Chip foundry UMC was unchanged at T$53 after saying it made a net profit in the first quarter.TSMC was off 1.7 percent to T$88 and Hon Hai Precision fell T$2 or 1.27 percent to T$155.

Upbeat earnings

Singapore shares started marginally higher, partly lifted by DBS Group as some investors cheered its first quarter results.

The bellwether Straits Times Index was up 0.39 percent at 1718 heading towards midday.

Banking giant DBS rose 1.5 percent to S$13.90 after unveiling late on Monday a first quarter net profit of S$278 million, down 14 percent from the year-ago quarter.

In Hong Kong, stocks were flat with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 10 points or 0.09 percent at 11,371.90 near midday.

Investors discarded telecom shares on concerns about dawdling growth in the sector and huge debt loads by their U.S. and European firms.

China Mobile dipped 0.4 percent to HK$25.10, while rival China Unicom shed 0.66 percent at HK$7.55.

Tsingtao Brewery, China's largest beer maker, surged 7.84 percent to HK$2.75 after it reported a jump in its first quarter net profit.

Markets in South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong will be closed Wednesday for the Labor Day holiday