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Nikkei falls, HK rallies
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April 30, 1999: 5:25 a.m. ET
Tokyo slides in thin trade; HK and Singapore rally
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Tokyo closed lower Friday in a light session sandwiched between market holidays. Most markets in Asia moved in the opposite direction, led by Hong Kong and Singapore.
Trading on the Nikkei 225 was light as a result of many players taking a long vacation after a national holiday Thursday and three further market holidays next week. Many investors have chosen to take a fortnight's break over this period.
The leading index closed down 241 points at 16,701.53, a fall of 1.42 percent. The main drag on the index came from Sony Corp., which shed 4.7 percent to end at 11,150 yen, in reaction to weak earnings released after the market closed Wednesday.
A third successive negative session for the tech-heavy Nasdaq in New York dampened sentiment in Japan. Other blue chips also suffered, with Tokyo Electron down just over 5 percent at 6,800 yen and Toshiba Corp. off 2.56 percent at 800 yen.
The Japanese government poured cold water on speculation it was about to intervene with another economic stimulus package. The pronouncement came as official statistics showed that the unemployment rate reached a record high of 4.8 percent in March.
The Nikkei ended the week 1.3 percent down on last Friday's close.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ended the session strongly, finishing up 153.50 points at 13,333.20, a rise of 1.16 percent, rebounding from futures-related selling pressures that started late in Thursday's session.
The expiration of April index futures Thursday brought relief to the market, and, in contrast to Tokyo, trading was relatively active.
Henderson Land led the rally, surging over 10 percent to HK$46.90 - a land deal between the latter and the government was driving the stock.
The market made headway without the support of index heavyweight HSBC Holdings, which was flat at HK$288.
Singapore's Strait Times index surged as confidence was bolstered by stronger than expected industrial production figures for the first quarter. Blue chips soared 55 points to 1,873.58, a rise of just over 3 percent.
Australian stocks ended the session in negative territory. The All Ordinaries index lost 5.6 points to close at 3,099.3. The mining sector continued to attract buyers but pressures in the rest of the market, especially industrials, led to the fall. Market heavyweight News Corp. gave up 18 cents to finish at A$12.66.
South Korean stocks ended Friday flat, with the Kospi down just a fraction of a point at 752.59. The slight dip was a relief after huge losses Thursday, and came as the government said it would intervene directly in the currency market to stop the continued upsurge in the won.
Taiwan blue chips closed up 82 points at 7,371.17, a rise of just over 1.1 percent, while the Composite index in Manila was up just 0.21 points at 2433.70.
In other markets, Thailand's Set, made strong gains, up over 5.1 percent to 454.74, Jakarta blue chips were up 1.6 percent at 497.62 and Kuala Lumpur gained just under 1 percent to 675.27.
-- from staff and wire reports
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