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Asia powers up on banks, techs
TOKYO, Japan -- Asia markets are broadly higher going into Thursday afternoon, powered by Tokyo's strong run after a rally on Wall Street. Japanese banks are showing double-digit gains, led by Mizuho Holdings' 16 percent surge. Tech counters such as Toshiba and Fujitsu also are leading the charge in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 average has jumped more than two percent to 8,631.70 by the midday break. The broader capital-weighted Topix index is up 1.74 percent to 845.30. Other markets in the region are showing good gains, with South Korea's Kospi up 1.35 percent to 691.18, Singapore's Straits Times is up about 1 percent and Hong Kong is ahead about 0.8 percent. Australia is showing a gain of a third of a percent, but Taiwan is flat and New Zealand's NZSE Top 40 is down about half a percent to 1948.647. Strong U.S. showingUnderpinning the gains in Asia was a strong close from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1.75 percent to 8,623.01 and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite put on a healthy 3.26 percent to 1,419.35. (Full story) Wednesday's rally in the U.S. was followed by a strong fourth-quarter profit statement after the bell from Hewlett-Packard. That saw shares in the computer and printer maker jump almost nine percent in after-hours trade. (Full story) The yen is a little weaker against the U.S. dollar Thursday, trading at 122.33 in Asia. A firmer dollar boosts the yen of overseas sales for Japanese exporters. "The weaker yen is giving exporters a boost, and a strong earnings statement from Hewlett Packard has brightened the outlook for techs," Reiko Nakayama of Marusan Securities told Reuters. Toshiba, Japan's largest chipmaker, is up 5.06 percent to 353 yen and computer giant Fujitsu is up 4.97 percent at 380 yen. There are even stronger gains for Mitsubishi Electric, up 7.38 percent and NEC, up almost 6 percent to 464 yen. Telco stocks are firmer, too, with mobile phone leader NTT DoCoMo up 3.2 percent to 223,000 yen and KDDI up a similar amount to 359,000 yen. Japan Telecom is almost 6 percent higher at 375,000 yen. Banks show big gains
Banks are showing strong gains after media reports suggesting the sector may accelerate disposal of more than 52 billion yen ($424 million) in bad loans, traders said. Mizuho Holdings, the world's biggest bank by assets, is up 16.36 percent to 128,000 yen. UFJ Holdings is 11 percent higher at 101,000 yen, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is up 12.5 percent to 404 yen and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group is ahead 7 percent to 726,000 yen. Big automakers are slightly lower, save for a 5.6 percent gain by Mitsubishi Motors. In Seoul, Samsung Electronics, now one of the world's biggest mobile phone makers, is up 2.64 percent to 369,500 won after unveiling a new 3G model for Europe. (Full story) Fund favorite SK Telecom is up about 2.5 percent to 247,000 won. LG Electronics is 3 percent higher and Hyundai Motor is up about 1.6 percent to 30,400 won. But fixed-line telco KT Corp is down 0.75 percent and steel giant Posco is also weaker. In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 is up about 0.2 percent to 3014.1. Market heavyweight News Corp is among the biggest gainers, up 3.75 percent to A$12.18. Retailer Coles Myer is down 0.78 percent to A$6.34 after dissident director Solomon Lew was dumped at the company's annual general meeting on Wednesday. (Full story) MIM in takeover talks
Diversified industrial group Brambles is in big trouble, down 26 percent to A$4.58 after a shock profit warning. But miner MIM is up 18.4 percent to A$1.48 after confirming it is in talks with Swiss group Xstrata about a possible takeover. (Full story) Hong Kong stocks are broadly higher, with strong gains by China Mobile, China Unicom and newcomer China Telecom. PCCW is up 2.2 percent to HK$1.37 after announcing more job cuts late Wednesday. In Singapore, big banks DBS, OCBC and UOB are leading the gains, up more than 1.5 percent. Taiwan's two biggest chip foundries, TSMC and UMC, are up 2 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. China Steel is up just over 1 percent, but China Airlines is down 2 percent to T$14.50. Reuters contributed to this report.
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