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Japan's Nikkei takes a turn higher
TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese stocks are marginally higher going into Friday afternoon, but the Nikkei 225 average remains below the 9,000 level. Most other Asian markets are also higher, despite another down day on Wall Street Thursday. In Tokyo, a 10 percent jump in the market's biggest stock, mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo, helped push the Nikkei 0.38 percent higher to 8,970.17 at the noon break. That is just 34 points above Thursday's sub-9,000 close of 8,936, the lowest finish since August 1983. The broader capital-weighted Topix was up 0.40 percent to 887.14 at lunch. Bank stocks are continuing to show weakness as the Japanese government mulls tougher action to cut their bad debts. Both indexes are steady as afternoon trade begins. Mizuho, UFJ weaker again
Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, is down another half a percent to 213,000 yen. UFJ Holdings, which like Mizuho fell 15 percent on Thursday, is down another 3.5 percent to 221,000 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is also off 3.5 percent to 571 yen. But the last of the Big Four banks, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, is up 1 percent to 843,000 yen. Japan's three big automaking exporters Toyota, Honda and Nissan, are all in the black, despite the impact of the U.S. West Coast ports strike on Asian shippers. In the U.S. Thursday, Wall Street again eased lower, with a slump in technology stocks sending the Nasdaq down 1.8 percent to 1,165.56, a six-year low. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.5 percent to 7,717.19. (Full story) The banking malaise continues to hang over the Tokyo market. Japanese media reported Friday that the government may hammer out a package tackling the bad-loan problem by next week, earlier than market expectations. But analysts said investors were taking a wait-and-see stance. "We're looking for a concerted package of measures to deal with the bad-loan woes," Hiroichi Nishi of Nikko Cordial Securities told Reuters news agency. Chipmakers downTechnology stocks are mixed, with big chipmakers Toshiba, Fujitsu, Hitachi and NEC all lower again after U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices cut its sales forecast. But consumer electronics makers are up, with Sony putting on 1.19 percent to 5090 yen and Canon up 1.28 percent to 3950 yen. Telecoms are broadly higher. Apart from DoCoMo's 10.4 percent jump, parent NTT is up 7.3 percent and Japan Telecom is 3 percent higher. KDDI has put on 1.65 percent. DoCoMo benefited Friday from a ratings upgrade from investment bank Morgan Stanley. It said earlier this week it would write down $4.7 billion on its overseas investments in the six months to September. (Full story) Asia generally upElsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is up 0.23 percent just before noon, back above 9,000 at 9,005.14. South Korea's Kospi is up 0.42 percent to 650.45 and the Straits Times index in Singapore is 1.23 percent higher in late morning trade. Seoul's biggest stock, Samsung Electronics, has gained 1.34 percent to 303,500 won. But its troubled rival Hynix Semiconductor is again down by the daily limit, off 15 percent to 315 yen. Mobile-phone leader SK Telecom is up 4.2 percent to 247,000 won. Taiwan's Taiex is up 0.34 percent to 4,089.74, with gains of more than 2 percent by the two big chip foundries, TSMC and UMC. But Via Technologies is down 4.3 percent to T$42.00. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is just into the red, down 0.15 percent at 2,994.7, and New Zealand's Top 40 is 0.27 percent lower. Australia's biggest stock, media group News Corp., is up slightly, putting on 0.65 percent to A$9.25. Resources group Rio Tinto is also higher, but BHP Billiton is just in the red. Big retailer Coles Myer, which reported a full-year profit of A$354 million on Thursday, is again up, adding 1.2 percent to A$6.51. (Full story) All of the big banks are lower, as is telecom company Telstra.
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