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Japan leads Asia to higher close
(CNN) -- Japanese stocks again closed firmer on Tuesday, with the Nikkei average up 1 percent but below the 10,000 mark it hit during the day. The Nikkei finished at 9898.72, adding 1.06 percent to its 2.59 percent climb on Monday. That was off its intra-day peak of 10,027.60, but still enough to set a 10-month high. The broader Topix was up 0.96 percent to 976.30. Other Asian markets were also higher, Hong Kong doing best with a 1 percent gain. Investors in Japan took heart from signs of a recovery in the global technology sector. That pushed tech-related stocks such as Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Kyocera higher by as much as 5 percent. A strong showing on Wall Street on Monday added to traders' enthusiasm. Bullish comments from brokerages on the chip sector and a strong sales report from leading Taiwan chip foundry TSMC helped push the tech-heavy Nasdaq close to a 14-month high. The Nasdaq jumped 3.44 percent to 1720.71, while the Dow Jones industrial average put on 1.62 percent to 9216.79. (Full story) In Tokyo, telco stocks showed some of the strongest gains, with KDDI up 7 percent to 530,000 yen and the market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, ahead 3.8 percent to 300,000 yen. Internet investor Softbank continued to surge as investors saw potential growth in its broadband strategy. The stock rose another 16 percent to 3570 yen, while its 42 percent-held Yahoo Japan was up 10 percent to 2.15 million yen. Tech bellwethers Advantest and Tokyo Electron were also big movers, up 3 percent and 8 percent respectively. Big bank Mizuho gave up early gains to close 4 percent lower at 120,000 yen. UFJ rose slightly to 250,000 yen. SMFG was up 2 percent to 316,000 yen. Among automakers, Honda led the way with a 5 percent gain to 4980 yen after its CEO outlined 2003 sales expectations. (Full story) Nissan continued to trade near 13-year highs, up another 0.8 percent to 1250 yen. Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore South Korea and Australia were all ahead. New Zealand was the odd one out, down 0.65 percent. In Seoul, the Kospi finished up 0.58 percent to 708.34, with Samsung Electronics more than 3 percent higher at 398,500 won. Leading bank Shinhan was up 7 percent to 13,700 won. But Hyundai Motor was down 1 percent to 34,800 won. Australia's S&P/ASX200 ended virtually flat, up 0.12 percent to 3035.8 after two business surveys painted a mixed picture of the Australian economy. (Full story) The gainers included market heavyweight News Corp, up 2.6 percent to A$11.49 and resources leader BHP Billiton, up 3.13 percent to A$8.89. But leading bank NAB was down 1.7 percent to A$32.91. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed 1.02 percent ahead at 9992.87, after returning during the day to the 10,000 level it cracked briefly last month. China Mobile was up more than 3.5 percent to HK$20.35 and PCCW finished unchanged at HK$4.77. China's top computer maker, Legend Group, put on 2.8 percent to HK$2.95. Singapore's Straits Times index is about half a percent higher at 1523.05 heading towards the close. DBS Bank and Singapore Airlines are both flat at S$10.70 and S$10.50 respectively. Taiwan's Taiex closed up 0.86 percent to 5367.97, led by gains of around 2 percent for chip foundries TSMC and UMC. Tech leader Hon Hai Precision put on almost 7 percent to T$139.00. In New Zealand, the Top 50 fell 0.65 percent to 2157.04. Telecom NZ ended just in the red at NZ$5.10.
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