LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's main stock markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, as technology stocks continued to benefit from a revival in investor enthusiasm, although some computer-chip makers were hurt by the latest sell-off on the Nasdaq market in the U.S.
In Japan, the Nikkei average of 225 stocks rose 106.52 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 16,206.19, led by electronics manufacturer Pioneer, which soared 9 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 379.94 points, or more than 2.2 percent, to end the session at 17,277.39, with mobile-phone and banking stocks among the biggest gainers.
The Straits Times index in Singapore fell 8.16 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,065.92, with chip maker Chartered Semiconductor down 4.6 percent, and electronics manufacturer Venture Manufacturing lost 4.4 percent.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 16.3 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,270.3, shrugging off the Australian central bank's earlier-than-expected quarter-point hike in the official interest rates to 6.25 percent. Media heavyweight News Corp. advanced more than 2 percent.
In the U.S. Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite index fell 81.49 points, or 2.2 percent, to 3,685.50, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 84.49 points to 10,606.95.
In the currency market Wednesday, the yen strengthened to ¥108.74 per dollar from ¥109.26 in late trade on Tuesday in New York.
Sony plans add-on for Playstation 2
Some of Tokyo's leading tech stocks rose, with Sony rising 3.6 percent, snapping a four-day decline that had taken 6 percent off the consumer electronics company's value. The maker of the Playstation 2 games console announced plans for a new service that would link its consoles to NTT DoCoMo's "i-mode" Internet-enabled mobile-phone network.
Electric wire and cable manufacturer Furukawa Electric climbed 4 percent, extending the previous session's gain.
Toshiba slid 2.1 percent and NEC sagged almost 2 percent as chipmakers were hurt by Nasdaq's weakness.
Japan's second-largest glass manufacturer Nippon Sheet Glass rose 5.5 percent. The company lifted its forecast of group net profit for the six months ending Sept. 30 to ¥15.5 billion ($142 million) from ¥2.5 billion yen.
Koha surged 16.7 percent on news it formed a joint venture with automotive parts maker Toyoda Gosei to make car instrument components.
In Hong Kong, institutional investors snapped up blue chip stocks as they judged the threat of interest-rate increases was waning.
U.K.-based bank HSBC Holdings led interest-rate-sensitive banks higher,
jumping 2.4 percent. HSBC subsidiary Hang Seng Bank climbed 2.8 percent, and Bank of East Asia rose 1.4 percent.
Index heavyweight China Mobile rose 3.5 percent, and telecom-to-property conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa advanced 2.3 percent. Cable & Wireless HKT jumped 3.9 percent, in tandem with its merger partner Pacific Century CyberWorks, which added 2.7 percent.
In the real estate sector, New World Development added 3.3 percent, conglomerate Cheung Kong rose 2.2 percent, and Henderson Land advanced 2.3 percent.
Among the region's smaller markets, Manila's PHS Composite rose 0.2 percent and the SET composite index in Bangkok leaped 2.2 percent. Jakarta's JSX rose 0.2 percent, as did South Korea's Kospi index.
Taiwan's Weighted index dropped 0.8 percent and Malaysia's KLSE lost 0.3 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
|
