Tokyo rises on mixed Asian day


South Korean stocks again led the gains in Asia, as Samsung continues to buy back its own stock

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Tokyo stocks rose slightly on Wednesday, shaking off a Wall Street decline the night before.

South Korea locked in a solid rise again and several smaller markets were also up.

But it was a mixed bag for equities in Asia, with Australia and New Zealand both losing around a third of a percent.

Taiwan saw the heaviest selling, losing more than 0.5 percent. Hong Kong nudged into the red and Singapore is trading slightly lower coming into the close.

Hedge funds buy in Tokyo

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 ended up 0.23 percent at 9,642.61 after a morning recovery and a steady day's trade.

The broad Topix index closed ahead 0.18 percent at 947.37.

Overseas hedge funds bought up big caps such as Honda, Sony and Toyota. But there were more sellers than buyers on the day.


Japanese markets showed little reaction to figures showing a decline in business activity for the month of June

Toyota ended up 1.74 percent at 2,920 yen, with Honda outdoing that, up 2.44 percent to 5,040 yen.

Sony Corp. ended up 1.52 percent at 5,360 yen. NTT DoCoMo closed ahead 0.78 percent at 258,000 yen.

Mizuho Holdings clawed back Tuesday's losses, gaining 0.4 percent to 248,000 yen. UFJ Holdings vaulted 3.8 percent to 273,000 yen.

The yen is trading at 117.95 against the dollar in early European trade.

Korea's Kospi rises again

In South Korea, the Kospi climbed 1.14 percent to 745.12. Samsung Electronics ran up 1.16 percent to 350,000 won as it keeps buying its own shares.

Brokerage SK Securities raced ahead the daily 15 percent limit for a one-day move in Korea, to 1,815 won. It said it was unaware of speculation it is about to take over the popular stock-market Web site Paxnet.

Fixed-line telecom KT Corp. ended unchanged after allowing overseas owners to buy up to 49 percent of the company, up from 37 percent.

Taiwan techs pressured

Taiwan's Taiex ended down 0.64 percent at 4,887.79. Tech stocks sold off as doubts continue to swirl over second-quarter earnings.

Contract chipmakers TSMC and UMC, which have already reported, both lost ground. They ended off 2.75 percent to T$53.00 and 3.16 percent to T$30.60 respectively.

Bank stocks also lost ground, that subindex falling 0.77 percent.

The tech-heavy Taiwan market was dealt a blow by a 1.29 percent fall in Nasdaq on Tuesday. The Dow closed down a similar 1.32 percent.

Australia off on News Corp.

In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 index lost 0.39 percent to 3,164.3. News Corp. dropped 3.3 percent to A$10.40 as doubts about the U.S. recovery persist.


News Corp., the largest listing in Sydney, put a drag on the main index with a 3.3 percent fall, after a Wall Street decline

The market's second-largest listing, the telecom Telstra Corp., was also down, off 0.8 percent to A$4.86.

Qantas Airways shares are halted through Friday. It reported earnings of A$428 million for the year, in line with expectations.

Bionic ear maker Cochlear climbed 1.3 percent to A$38.51 after strong earnings on Tuesday.

New Zealand's Top 40 ended down 0.29 percent at 2,037.51. Telecom New Zealand exerted heavy pressure on thin trading, down 0.79 percent to NZ$5.00.

But Natural Gas Corp. climbed 1.6 percent to NZ$1.26 after reporting a return to profits on Tuesday.

Hang Seng slightly in red

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended slightly lower, off 0.06 percent at 10,402.26. But many of the most-followed names were up for the day.

Li Ka-shing's flagship Cheung Kong Holdings climbed 1.3 percent to HK$58.20 ahead of earnings on Thursday.

Affiliate Hutchison Whampoa gained 1.36 percent to HK$55.75 despite saying it would take a writedown on its British 3G venture, with Dutch partner KPN Telecom selling out.

Mobile phone play China Unicom was a notable gainer, up 3.5 percent to HK$5.90.

Singapore's Straits Times index is down 0.16 percent at 1,531.13 in late trade. Land reclaim company Links Island crashed 63 percent to S$0.41 on extremely heavy volume before it was suspended.

The company recently stock at a rate of S$0.23, diluting the value of existing holder's shares.

Volume was otherwise thin, Links Island accounting for more than half the morning turnover.