Asian stocks roar to a strong close


Toyota and other large-cap companies saw heavy gains in Japan as Tokyo's main indexes shot up

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Asian stocks shot up on Friday, with Japan rising more than 3 percent.

The Topix index rose 3.1 percent to 1024.89. The Nikkei 225 average roared ahead 3.51 percent to close at 10,621.84.

Asian gains were broad-based. South Korea put on almost 5 percent, and its tech- and small-cap market was even stronger.

Australia ended with a nominal gain. New Zealand sold off, as did markets in China and the Philippines. But those smaller exchanges were the only ones to drop on Friday.

Hong Kong rose three-quarters of a percent, Taiwan ended up more than 1.5 percent, and Singapore is up 2 percent coming toward the close.

Japan heavyweights post big rise

In Japan, the market got a boost out of its large-cap issues. Toyota Motor Corp. leaped 6.0 percent to 3180 yen, seeing heavy computerized buying.


The soccer World Cup comes to a close on Sunday in Japan, with the third-place game on Saturday in Korea

Chipmaker Toshiba Corp. climbed 4.7 percent to 488 yen. But not all the news from Japan is good -- the jobless rate has risen to 5.4 percent, fresh data show (full story).

NTT DoCoMo, the largest cell-phone carrier, climbed 4.98 percent to 295,000 yen.

Cell-phone plays in Asia have done well during the soccer World Cup. That closes on Sunday in Japan, with Brazil playing Germany in the final.

Losing semifinalists South Korea and Turkey go toe to toe for third place in Taegu, South Korea on Saturday.

Currency markets were again steady Friday, but the yen is still trading at 119.28 with a Royal Bank of Scotland quote out of Hong Kong.

Korea shoots up on two fronts

The Korean won closed at 1,201.3 to the U.S. dollar in Seoul.


Cell-phone stocks have benefitted from the World Cup but telecoms in general are taking the WorldCom knock

South Korea's Kospi index climbed 4.55 percent to 742.72 on Friday. The over-the-counter market, the Kosdaq, sped ahead 6.33 percent to 60.85.

Economic figures showed Korea's economy is still seeing growth. Rating agency Fitch believes it is on track to grow 6.25 percent this year (full story).

Samsung Electronics added 5.1 percent to 329,000 won. Competitor Hynix Semiconductor fired up the daily 15 percent limit, ending at 260 won.

Steel company POSCO fell 0.4 percent to 133,500 won with the Korean Fair Trade Commission saying it would file a complaint against the company and its chairman.

It alleges that POSCO forced its group companies to buy stock in a lottery company above market price.

TSMC gains from Motorola outsourcing

Taiwan's Taiex rose 1.62 percent to 5153.71, coming off almost a seven-month low.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the largest listing, lifted 2.26 percent to T$68.00.

U.S. cell-phone maker Motorola is cutting 7,000 jobs and said it would transfer more manufacturing to the chip foundry.

Nanya Tech, the biggest maker of DRAM chips in Taiwan, rose 1 percent to T$30.20.

In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 index nudged ahead 0.1 percent to 3216.0. Telecom Telstra, the second-largest listing Down Under, rose 2.6 percent to A$4.72.

Media group News Corp., the largest listing, fell 1.5 percent to A$9.80.

BHP Billiton, down 0.7 percent to A$10.33, and Rio Tinto, down 1.1 percent to A$33.61, painted the picture for mining stocks.

New Zealand's Top 40 dropped 0.25 percent to 2068.24. Telecom New Zealand fell 0.6 percent to NZ$4.93, suffering from skepticism due to WorldCom.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished up 0.76 percent with exporters making good running.

HSBC plays down WorldCom

Li & Fung, which supplies clothing companies, climbed 5.53 percent. Johnson Electric, which makes parts for household appliances, closed up 2.78 percent at HK$9.20.

PetroChina gained 1.22 percent to HK$1.66, with Shell due to sign the largest joint venture involving an overseas company in China(Full Story).

Bank HSBC put on 1.42 percent to HK$89.75, saying its exposure to WorldCom is not great.

Singapore's Straits Times index is up 2.12 percent at 1564.04 as the trading day winds down.