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Tokyo rallies for 3rd day
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June 21, 2000: 6:26 a.m. ET
Other Asian markets join upswing as Nasdaq lead technology stocks higher
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's leading markets rallied Wednesday, with Tokyo's main index gaining more than 1 percent for the third straight day as technology stocks returned to favor after the Nasdaq market headed higher in the U.S. Tuesday.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 302.53 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,210.08, closing above the 17,000 mark for the first time in about two weeks.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended up 151.40 points, or 0.9 percent, at 16,238.14, led by telecom companies, while Singapore's Straits Times index rose 19.26 points, or 1 percent, to 2,029.34, driven by gains for blue-chip property stocks. 
Elsewhere in Asia, Seoul's Kospi index closed down 0.4 percent, while the Taiwan Weighted index in Taipei slipped 0.6 percent.
On Wall Street Tuesday, the technology laden Nasdaq composite climbed 23.53 points to 4,013.36, ending above the 4,000 mark for the first time in two months, as investors edged back toward high-growth issues. But the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 122.68 points to 10,435.16.
In the currency market, the dollar traded at ¥105.35, little changed from its level late Tuesday in New York. The euro fetched 95.12 U.S. cents, down from 95.79 U.S. cents in New York.
On the Tokyo exchange, Toshiba rose 5 percent and Hitachi rose 4.5 percent in heavy trade, as high-tech manufacturers benefited from the overnight gains on Nasdaq. Sony added 2.1 percent and Fujitsu gained 3.3 percent.
Ailing department store operator Sogo jumped 19.7 percent after Shinsei Bank said it was making a request to the Deposit Insurance Corp. to buy its ¥200 billion ($1.9 billion) in loans to Sogo.
Nasdaq Japan
On the new Nasdaq Japan exchange, Masternet plunged 13.3 percent, coming under selling pressure amid concern about the profitability of its new business as a free Internet access provider, analysts said.
But fellow Nasdaq Japan issue Digital Design surged by its daily limit, gaining 16.7 percent as investors focused on its potential growth as a creator of software to compress data for rapid transmission and as a maker of micro servers.
Banking shares in Tokyo ended lower after briefly rebounding from last Thursday's setbacks on news that Asahi Bank had pulled out of a planned three-way merger. Asahi fell 3.2 percent, while Sumitomo Bank slipped 1.2 percent.
In Hong Kong, shares of SCMP.com fell 6.8 percent after the Internet arm of newspaper publisher South China Morning Post said Tuesday it would restructure, axing up to 18 of its 108 staff.
Among Hong Kong's large-cap stocks, China Telecom, which soon will change its name to China Mobile, rose 3.5 percent as Hong Kong's telecom sector fared well. Hutchison Whampoa rose 1.3 percent.
In Singapore, property developer City Development rose 5.9 percent.
In other markets, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7 percent, with media giant News Corp. up 3.7 percent.
Jakarta's JSX index rose 0.9 percent, Manila's PHS composite fell 0.3 percent and Bangkok's SET index fell 0.5 percent. The KLSE composite in Malaysia rose 2.8 percent. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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