LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian markets ended the week on a positive note, taking their cue from across-the-board gains on Wall Street the pervious day. Tokyo shares rose more than 1 percent while Hong Kong edged higher as investors shrugged off interest-rate concerns.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 253.48 points, or 1.3 percent, at 19,958.08. Traders reported a let-up in the selling of stocks related to the imminent end of the fiscal year. Institutional investors had been avoiding opening positions in the past few sessions as they prepared to close their books for the year on March 31. The Nikkei ended 2 percent up on the week.
Shares in Takeda Chemical Industries rose 8.1 percent to ¥1,911 on news that rival Sankyo's diabetes drug had been withdrawn from the U.S. market after some users suffered fatal liver failures. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said a drug developed by Takeda and sold by Eli Lilly (LLY: Research, Estimates) was safer. Sankyo shares rose 5.5 percent to ¥2,355, rebounding from steep fall over the past two days.
Reports that internet service provider Masternet was considering a stock market listing on the Nasdaq lifted its shares 2 percent to ¥4.9 million.
Mitsubishi Shindoh, a maker of rolled copper products, surged 7.5 percent to ¥245 after saying profit would rise to ¥730 million for the year to March 31 from the previous forecast of ¥170 million.
Sega Enterprises plunged 8.1 percent to ¥1,911 on a report that U.S. chip designer Rambus had asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate and halt imports of Sega and Hitachi products. Rambus claims Sega and Hitachi have infringed its chip patents. Hitachi slipped ¥4 to ¥1,250.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index rose 52.85 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,763.43, as investors bought neglected blue-chip and tech stocks ahead of an expected rate hike later Friday. The market rose more about four percent on the week.
Optimism on rates
HSBC Holdings, Hong Kong's largest bank, and Hang Seng Bank - both out of favor for most of the year as investors switched to high-tech stocks -- rose on optimism that the Hong Kong Association of Banks would limit its expected interest-rate rise to 0.25 percent. Hong Kong typically follows the U.S. in hiking rates because its currency is linked to the U.S. dollar. HSBC rose 2.5 percent to HK$92.00, while Hang Seng Bank gained 1.9 percent to HK$68.25.
Cable & Wireless HKT, Hong Kong's largest telecom company, jumped 3.3 percent to HK$21.55. Asia's largest internet firm outside Japan, Pacific Century CyberWorks, which made a bid for Cable & Wireless, surged 7.2 percent to HK$20.15, recovering part of the ground lost in recent weeks as investors began to doubt that PCCW's acquisition of a controlling stake in C&W HKT would go ahead. Index heavyweight China Telecom, which surged 73 percent in the last three months, fell 2.4 percent to HK$73.00.
Australia's All Ordinaries index rose 3.9 points at 3,247.4 - leaving it up about 1.4 percent on the week - as investors digested reports that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. might buy the world's largest carmaker General Motors (GM: Research, Estimates) as a way to gain control of GM's Hughes Electronics Corp. Shares of News Corp., which denied the report, finished 5 cents higher at A$25.25.
Energy and mining group BHP lost 1 percent to A$17.503, and the world's largest miner, Rio Tinto dropped almost 3 percent to A$24.10 amid weakness in prices for base and precious metals.
Taiwan stocks ended a three-day post-election rally Friday, closing down 51.23 points, or 0.5 percent, at 9,482.64, after the central bank raised interest rates unexpectedly.
Singapore's Strait Times index rose 19.35 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 2,146.20.
Multimedia firm Creative Technology rose S$4.80 to S$58.70, mirroring gains by its Nasdaq-listed shares. United Overseas Bank gained 20 cents to S$10.50 ahead of the publication of its 1999 results, due after the market closes. UOB is expected to report strong growth driven by its consumer loans business.
South Korea's Kospi index rose 2.5 percent to 889.24, helped by demand from international investors for semiconductor stocks. Samsung Electronics rose 43,000 won to 353,000 and Hyundai Electronics gained 3,450 won to 26,450.
Thai stocks rose more than 1.3 percent to end the session at 404.16, Malaysian shares were little changed at 970.27, while the Manila exchange was also little changed at 1,681.71.
In the U.S. Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 253.16 points, or 2.3 percent, to 11,119.86, breaking through the 11,000-point mark for the first time in seven weeks as investors poured money into Dow components Microsoft and General Electric. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index leapt 26.71, or 1.8 percent, to 1,527.35, its third record close in three days. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 75.94, or 1.6 percent, to 4,940.69, rising for the third straight session.
In the currency markets, the yen traded at 107.40 against the U.S. dollar, little changed from its value of 107.34 in late trading in New York Thursday. 
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