Japan, Singapore lead Asia higher


Automakers are higher in Tuesday trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

Staff and wire reports

TOKYO, Japan -- Stocks in some Asian markets are edging higher, with Japan and Singapore the leaders heading into afternoon trade.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average put on 84.90 points or 0.81 percent to 10,556.22 by midday, reversing an earlier fall to 10,431.66.

The broader, capital-weighted Topix gained 10.11 points or one percent to 1023.34 as bluechips such as automaker Toyota Motor Corp rose on currency stability.

The Topix has lost about 12 percent since early May. On Monday it fell below the 1000-point level for the first time in four months.

Toyota is up 1.6 percent and Honda is 2.72 percent higher while consumer electronics leader Sony is up about 0.8 percent to 6200 yen.

Singapore's Straits Times index jumped sharply, up 1.74 percent to 1564.57 in late morning trade.

Australia's market is steady, with the S&P/ASX200 up an insignificant 0.6 points to 3235.9.

South Korea's Kospi easier


Worries remain about the strength of the U.S. business recovery since last September's terror attacks

In South Korea, where most attention Tuesday is on the evening clash with Germany in the World Cup soccer semi-final, the Kospi is slightly into the red, down 0.6 percent to 763.23.

Hong Kong and Taiwan are both moving in and out of the black.

The U.S. market finished higher Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.3 percent to 9281.82 and the Nasdaq composite putting on a solid 1.34 percent to 1460.34 after a run of lows.

The broad-based Standard & Poor's 500 closed up 0.36 percent at 992.72 after falling to its lowest levels marked a few weeks after the September 11 attacks.

But nagging worries over volatility on Wall Street limited the upside.

U.S. dollar weakness

"Unless the S&P 500 index recovers the 1,000-point level, I wouldn't be optimistic about the U.S. market," Akira Masuda, senior dealer in equities at Shinko Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Another concern is the weakness of the U.S. dollar.

"The dollar's average break-even level for Japanese manufacturers is estimated at 115.32 yen for the current business year. So if the dollar slips to around 115 yen, that should be pretty negative to Japan's corporate earnings and its economy," Masaaki Higashida, deputy general manager at Nomura Securities' investment information, said.

The dollar is trading at about 121.90 yen at midday.

In Japan, brokerages extended strong gains into a second day, with Nikko Cordial Corp, the third-biggest broker, up 3.71 percent at 615 yen.

Among Japanese high-tech exporters, Sharp Corp gained 1.9 percent to 1,499 yen.

The electronics maker lured investors after the company said on Monday it aimed to boost its slumping share of Japan's handheld computer market to 20 percent this business year from 10-20 percent last year, aided by new models.

Big banks are slightly higher, with modest gains by Mizuho Holdings, UFJ Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. MTFG is unchanged at 821,000 yen.

Hynix Semi down again

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics and KT Corp are among the gainers, along with leading bank Kookmin Bank and steelmaker Posco.

But troubled memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor continued to test new lows, tumbling 11.5 percent to just 230 won.

Daewoo Motor Sales, a proxy for Daewoo Motor, is up 2.3 percent to 6690 won. Hyundai Motor is off 1.5 percent to 36,000 won.

In Australia, market heavyweight News Corp has recovered a little from the three-year lows it touched Monday. It is trading 0.38 percent higher at A$10.51.

Resources leader BHP Billiton is also higher, as are the big banks. Macquarie Bank jumped 4 percent to A$31.27 after the consortium it heads was named as the winning bidder for Sydney Airport.

In Singapore, bluechips Singapore Airlines and DBS Group are slightly higher, as is Creative Technology. Banks OCBC and UOB are also up.

Hong Kong's market heavyweight HSBC is down about half a percent, but China Mobile is up 0.2 percent to HK$23.10.

Property giant Sun Hung Kai Properties has put on 1.3 percent to HK$59.25.

In Taiwan, chip foundries TSMC and UMC are up 2.9 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. Technology stocks are broadly stronger.