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Japan stocks bounce back after noon



By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Tokyo stocks bounced back from early losses on Friday. Around midday, they had recovered to flat and were rising.

Stocks were flat in Australia. South Korea was showing narrow gains.

But Hong Kong and Taiwan were trading down.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended the morning session up 0.1 percent at 11,524.63.

At one point it lost all the gains it had made since this week's easing of monetary policy by the Bank of Japan.

But it bounced back, and was strengthening as the afternoon session got underway. In early afternoon, the Nikkei was up 0.4 percent.

Yen still focus in Tokyo

The yen is still the focus of trading. Its recent strength against the dollar has come to a halt for now.

After hitting two-months highs recently, it had weakened slightly Friday to 120.45 to the greenback.

The Japanese government is trying its best to talk the yen down. A stronger currency hurts its exporters by making their products more expensive.

A finance ministry official says the government may intervene. The Bank of Japan said the currency's recent gains aren't consistent with fundamentals, and are more a product of market speculation.

Despite some relief from the currency, selling in the tech sector continues. Electronics giant Sony was leading the way down, dropping 3 percent to 5,830 yen in afternoon trade.

But auto stocks and banks were rising on the currency's easing.

Earnings news prop Australia stocks

Australian stocks were little changed in early afternoon. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1.2 points to 3,327.4, negligible in percentage terms.

Earnings from media giant News Corp. offset weakness among blue chip miners and banks.

News Corp.'s fourth quarter earnings were slightly better than expected, pushing the stock up 0.9 percent to A$17.11.

Australia's largest retailer Coles was still enjoying a run after collaring ex-Brambles chief John Fletcher as CEO.

The stock was last up seven cents at A$7.21, following Thursday's 14 percent surge.

Flagship airline Qantas was down 11 cents at A$2.92, a day after disappointing earnings pushed it down 6.5 percent.

Chips up in Korea

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index was down 0.7 percent at 11,754.14 just before midday.

In Seoul, the benchmark Kospi index was trading up 0.1 percent at 581.52.

Chip shares were leading the way higher. But losses in financial stocks were holding the index back.

The market's largest stock, Samsung Electronics, bounced back from Thursday's slump.

The world's largest memory chip maker rose 2,500 won to 197,500.

Stocks in Taiwan were dropping ahead of second-quarter gross domestic product figures, due later Friday.

The Taiex was down 0.7 percent at 4,655.00 in early afternoon.

Taiwan stocks had gained 5 percent as the government stepped in to help its financial sector. But economists expect a 0.3 percent drop in second quarter GDP.

China's government said it is planning to ease its strict labor laws. It will scrap rules limiting the movement of workers throughout the country.

But China's volatile markets were trading down, with the Shanghai B share market off 0.8 percent at 267.45. Shenzhen's B shares were down 0.4 percent at 599.86.








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