Asian stocks take a breather


China Mobile is trading higher on the Hong Kong market Thursday

TOKYO, Japan -- Asian markets are mainly easier by midday Thursday, following their strong runup Wednesday on renewed tech-related optimism in the U.S.

But the falls are modest, with Tokyo's tech-oriented Nikkei 225 average off just 0.24 percent or 27.60 points to 11,615.37 at noon. That followed its three-week closing high Wednesday of 11,642.97.

Sony, Toshiba and Matsushita Electric Industrial are lower, but banks, carmakers and telcos NTT and NTT DoCoMo are up strongly.

Their gains are reflected in the broader capital-weighted TOPIX index, which put on 6.30 points or 0.58 percent to 1093.30.

Australia is continuing its strong run, with the S&P/ASX200 putting on 12 points or about 0.35 percent to 3388 after Wednesday's 60-point gain.

South Korea and Hong Kong are marginally lower, Taiwan's Taiex is down about 1.6 percent and Singapore is trending down, off about 1.1 percent.

In Tokyo, Sony, the world's biggest consumer electronics manufacturer, fell 0.7 percent to 7100 yen after rising four percent in the previous two sessions. Matsushita Industrial Electrical eased 0.3 percent to 1688 yen.

Mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest stock by market capitalization, rose 1.61 percent to 315,000 yen. Parent NTT is up by the same percentage to 506,000 yen.

Rival telco KDDI, which reports earnings later Thursday, is up 1.1 percent to 364,000 yen.

Wall Street mixed


Japanese technology makers are hoping for a strong recovery in the U.S.

In the U.S., Wall Street closed Wednesday mixed, with the Dow Jones industrial average off half a percent to 10,243.68, and the Nasdaq composite index up 0.38 percent to 1725.56.

Wednesday's strong U.S. manufacturing data and the previous day's leap in April retail sales fuelled hopes for a broad recovery in the U.S., which is Japan's largest trading partner.

"The biggest worry here is a slow recovery in the U.S. economy," Hiroshi Sato, equities general manager at Cosmo Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Leading Japanese automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda are all higher, but No. 4 maker Mitsubishi is off 1.2 percent.

Mazda, the No. 5 maker which said Wednesday it would double earnings this financial year, is also slightly in the red, down a quarter of a percent after the previous session's 4 percent gain.

Mitsubishi Heavy, Japan's largest heavy machinery maker, jumped 2.88 percent to 429 yen after the company said Wednesday it returned to net profit in the year just ended.

News Corp. eases

In Australia, market heavyweight News Corp, which jumped almost 14 percent Wednesday, is down 0.22 percent at A$13.55. Resources stock Rio Tinto is up 1.25 percent at A$37.17.

Macquarie Bank is the big mover among banks, up 4.55 percent to A$30.99 after unveiling net profit for the year of A$250 million.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics is off 1.2 percent to 372,000 won. Rival chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor is 4.7 percent higher at 770 won, while telcos KT Corp and SK Telecom are up 2.6 percent and 0.74 percent respectively.

Singapore blue chips are lower in late morning trade, with banking leader DBS Group down 1.4 percent.

In Hong Kong, heavyweights HSBC and China Mobile are both slightly higher, but property groups are down.