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Asia mixed, HK surges
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July 26, 2000: 6:37 a.m. ET
Hong Kong banking shares rise; Tokyo weak on telecom stocks
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian stock markets were mixed at the close of trade on Wednesday, with banking and telecom shares pulling Hong Kong higher, while Toyko's main index declined amid weakness for leading telephone and Internet stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei average of 225 Japanese stocks slipped 70.98 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 16,502.61.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 244.89 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 17,620.23 on strong demand for bank shares ahead of profit announcements from key players.
 The Straits Times index in Singapore fell 0.9 percent to 2,079.17, with contract manufacturer Venture Manufacturing and chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor among the top decliners.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed at 3,282.9, with a 1.4 percent decline in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp balanced by a 1.4 percent advance in shares of telecom firm Telstra.
In the U.S. on Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite index gained 48 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 4,029.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 14.85 to 10,699.97.
In the currency market, the yen weakened against the U.S. dollar to ¥109.18 per dollar, from ¥108.87 in late U.S. trade on Tuesday.
Telecom stocks were generally weaker in Tokyo. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, the country's dominant telecom company, fell 3 percent, rival DDI Corp dropped 4.1 percent and Japan Telecom declined 1.2 percent.
But mobile phone service provider NTT DoCoMo rose 3 percent after the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said the company was in talks to form an alliance with America Online (AOL: Research, Estimates) that would enable users of its i-mode online mobile-phone service to access AOL content and e-mail.
Softbank fell 1.3 percent, after Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said the sale of state-controlled Nippon Credit Bank to a Softbank-led group was likely to be postponed by a month from the original August 1 target date. The Jiji news agency said the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had urged banking regulators to review the terms of the sale.
U.S. fine for chemicals maker
Daicel Chemical Industries fell 2 percent after the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday the firm would pay a $53 million fine for fixing the price of food preservatives.
Pharmaceutical firm Eisai dropped 8.5 percent. UBS Warburg analyst Steven Barker downgraded shares in Eisai to "buy" from "strong buy," saying its price had risen close enough to Warburg's target price of ¥3,500.
Consumer electronics maker Sony rose 2.5 percent. After the market closed, the maker of PlayStation games consoles said its operating profit for the three months ended June 30 slumped 20.1 percent to ¥33.7 billion ($309 million) as sales rose 5.4 percent to ¥1.56 trillion.
Computer maker Fujitsu gained 1.3 percent.
In Hong Kong, HSBC Holdings rose 2.9 percent as three leading investment banks raised their rating on the stock to a "buy" amid optimism about the bank's first-half profit, set to be published Monday. Its separately traded domestic unit, Hang Seng Bank, rose 4.9 percent.
Hutchison Whampoa rose 1.3 percent, paring Tuesday's 4.2 percent drop that followed confirmation the conglomerate was selling its stake in VoiceStream Wireless Corp. of the U.S. to Deutsche Telekom. Parent company Cheung Kong gained 0.3 percent.
Cable & Wireless HKT gained 0.6 percent and merger partner Pacific Century CyberWorks advanced 1.3 percent.
Cathay Pacific Airways climbed 3.4 percent after oil prices fell below US$28, promising to lower the cost of aviation fuel.
In smaller markets, the SET composite index in Bangkok fell 0.9 percent, Jakarta's JSX slipped 0.6 percent, Manila's PHS Composite dropped 0.2 percent, and Malaysia's KLSE shed 0.6 percent.
South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8 percent, while Taiwan's Weighted index climbed 0.7 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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