NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Asia's major markets closed mixed Friday, with telecom stocks lifting Tokyo's leading index while their sector counterparts in Hong Kong slipped, after Hutchison Whampoa pulled out of an alliance to tap the German mobile-phone market.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average closed up 119.46 points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,280.49, taking its weekly gain to 1 percent. Among Nikkei 500 sectors, transportation, financial and communications stocks were the major gainers.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed with a loss of 182.01 points, or 1 percent, to 17,440. For the week, the index closed up 1.3 percent.
The Straits Times in Singapore ended down 21.53 points, or 1 percent, to 2,185.52 as bank stocks closed lower, ending a recent run-up, and despite a strong gain for index heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications.
Among other top Pacific Rim markets, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index edged up 0.2 percent, the Taiwan Weighted index in Taipei climbed 0.4 percent and the KOSPI index in Seoul shed 2 percent, as SK Telecom fell 6.3 percent. Traders said the planned spin-off of its Internet unit, unveiled Friday, could require a cash infusion from the mobile-phone company.
U.S. markets ended higher Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrial average adding 0.4 percent while the technology-rich Nasdaq composite climbed more than 2 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar rose against the Japanese yen, rising to ¥108.81, up from ¥108.55 in New York late Thursday.
Tokyo telecoms rise, MSCI rattles
Tokyo's telecom sector bounced back after a sluggish Thursday. NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile phone company and the country's most valuable firm, rose 1.9 percent, while its parent NTT rose 3.3 percent. Also in the sector, telecom company DDI rose 5.8 percent.
In Japan's Internet sector, Hikari Tsushin rose 4.6 percent, while Softbank added 1.5 percent.
A shake-up by Morgan Stanley Capital International in its Japan Index caused select stocks that were eliminated from the index to fall in Tokyo. The firm said it would add Fuji Television Network to the influential index while removing 16 small or illiquid firms after the end of trading on Aug. 31.
Fuji Television jumped 8.2 percent, while the outgoing stocks were the subject of heavy selling: furniture company Takara Standard tumbled 10.3 percent, sewing machine maker Brother Industries fell 9.4 percent and oil producer Arabian Oil dropped 5 percent.
Tokyo Broadcasting System fell 6.3 percent after Morgan Stanley said TBS, already in its Japan Index, would have its weighting cut to 40 percent of market cap from 100 percent due to its 20 percent foreign ownership limit.
Among other active issues, Japan Energy shot up 15 percent after the daily Asahi Shimbun said the oil firm would close its 100,000 barrel-a-day refinery in central Japan. A Japan Energy spokesman said nothing had been decided.
In Hong Kong, Hutchison Whampoa fell 3.8 percent after announcing it will pull out of its E-plus alliance with Dutch carrier KPN Telecom a day after the consortium won a third generation mobile phone license in Germany. Hutchison said the  8.4 billion price tag was too high and that the 10 megahertz of spectrum won by the group is not enough to be shared between Hutchison and KPN.
China Mobile, the most heavily weighted stock in the Hang Seng index, dropped 1.5 percent.
And in Singapore, index heavyweight Singapore Telecom jumped 5 percent to S$2.72 on news Asia's largest listed telecom firm plans to remove the limit it placed on overseas shareholders in obtaining the stock.
In the bank sector, shares of OCBC fell 3.1 percent and Overseas Union Bank dropped 0.6 percent.
In other markets, the JSX index in Jakarta fell 0.5 percent, the KLSE composite in Malaysia shed 0.2 percent, the PHS composite in Manila rose 0.5 percent while the Bangkok SET fell 1percent. 
-- from staff and wire reports
|
