LONDON (CNNfn) - Tokyo's main stock index registered a narrow gain Thursday, lifted by a revival of interest in technology shares, while other leading markets in Asia sputtered into the red on weakness for Internet and telecom shares.
Japan's Nikkei average closed up 22.76 points, or 0.1 percent, at 16,213.28, encouraged by the first gain in four sessions for the tech-rich U.S. Nasdaq composite index Wednesday. Tokyo's markets will be closed Friday to mark "Respect for the Aged" day, reopening Monday.
The Bank of Japan, as expected, announced Thursday it would hold to its interest-rate target of 0.25 percent. It was the central bank's first monetary policy meeting since it last month ended its 18-month-old ultra-easy, or "zero-rate," credit policy by raising interest rates a quarter-point.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 234.35 points, or 1.4 percent, at 16,395.43. Internet and telecom company Pacific Century CyberWorks dropped 3.3 percent, leaving it down 13 percent from a week earlier, as investors speculated that shareholders in the U.K.'s Cable & Wireless, the former parent of PCCW's merger partner Cable & Wireless HKT, may be about to sell some of their PCCW shares.
Singapore's Straits Times index trickled down 5.07 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 2,077.02.
 In Sydney, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 nosed up 0.3 percent to 3,344.6, with media conglomerate News Corp. climbing 1 percent to extend Wednesday's strong gain.
In Taipei the Taiwan Weighted index tumbled 3.2 percent to a 13-month closing low of 7,152.29, amid persistent selling by international funds following the Taiwan dollar's recent fall against the U.S. currency. The Kospi index in Seoul dropped 0.5 percent, paring earlier losses.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded at ¥107.20 against the Japanese yen, little changed from ¥107.15 in late New York trade Wednesday.
In Japan's high-tech sector, electronics maker Hitachi jumped 4.5 percent. The company said Wednesday that it raised its profit forecast for the six months through Sept. 30 to ¥55 billion ($514 million) from an earlier estimate of ¥30 billion, citing strong demand for semiconductor chips used in game machines, digital cameras and mobile phones. Rival Sony dropped 1.9 percent.
In the chip sector, Japan's leading semiconductor maker NEC rose 1.8 percent and Advantest, a maker of computer chip equipment, climbed 2.1 percent.
Internet investment firm Softbank fell 2.7 percent.
Nippon Trust jumped nearly 43 percent as investors reacted to the announcement of details of a share-swap as part of its plan to form a new company next April with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi Trust & Banking.
GM to raise Suzuki stake
Mini-vehicle manufacturer Suzuki Motor jumped 7.1 percent after U.S.-based General Motors (GM: Research, Estimates), the world's biggest carmaker, said it would double its stake in Suzuki to 20 percent. Mazda Motor, which is 33 percent owned by Ford Motor Co. (F: Research, Estimates), soared 9.9 percent.
In Hong Kong, Hang Seng index heavyweight China Mobile fell 1.7 percent, weighed down by bearish sentiment after most telecom stocks in Europe fell a day earlier. Singapore's leading phone company, Singapore Telecommunications, fell 2.1 percent.
Among other Asian markets, the KLSE composite index in Malaysia ended up 0.3 percent, the PHS composite in Manila closed down 2.6 percent while the SET in Bangkok was down 1.2 percent.
The Jakarta stock exchange in Indonesia was closed after a bomb blast at the exchange Wednesday killed at least 15 people. 
- from staff and wire reports
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