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Japan up, HK soars 5.6%
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September 25, 2000: 5:39 a.m. ET
Tech stocks jump as fears of economic slowdown recede; banks, property gain
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's main markets closed sharply higher Monday, led by gains for high-tech stocks, after Friday's concerted central bank support for the European common currency eased fears that the euro's weakness might act as a brake on world economic growth.
President Bill Clinton also sent an encouraging signal to equity investors Friday, releasing oil from U.S. government reserves to calm fears of a supply shortage that would have intensified cost pressures on industry, posing a second threat to the economy.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average of 225 stocks rose 174.65 points, or 1.1 percent, to end the session at 15,992.90, led by computer chip makers NEC and Toshiba.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong surged almost 5.6 percent, or 816.07 points, to 15,428.95, with index heavyweight China Mobile and Pacific Century CyberWorks leading gains. Cathay Pacific Airlines soared 5.2 percent as oil prices fell, promising lower costs for aviation fuel.
In South Korea, the Kospi index soared 5.7 percent to 584.63, led by banking stocks after the government pledged to spend 40 trillion won ($35.5 billion) to restructure banks and businesses. Kookmin Bank jumped 9 percent, Hanvit Bank climbed 13.7 percent and Chohung Bank soared 13.9 percent.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 26.7 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,215.3 led by banking stocks. National Australia Bank rose 1.5 percent, ANZ Bank climbed 1.8 percent and Westpac Bank jumped 1.6 percent. Rupert Murdoch's international media company News Corp. leaped 3.6 percent.
Singapore's Straits Times index climbed 46.19 points, or 2.4 percent, to 1,979.18. Southeast Asia'a most profitable airline Singapore Airlines rising 3.2 percent.
In the currency market, the yen strengthened slightly to ¥107.73 per U.S. dollar from ¥107.87 in late trading in New York on Friday.
Rebounding from Intel blues
On the Tokyo exchange, technology stocks that suffered on Friday in the wake of a warning by U.S. semiconductor maker Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) mostly rebounded. No. 1 Japanese chipmaker NEC climbed 1.8 percent, rival Toshiba rose 0.9 percent, and chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron added 2.2 percent. Fujitsu, the country's biggest personal computer maker, jumped 1.5 percent.
Mitsubishi Electric rose 2.1 percent, paring Friday's 7.4 percent loss, after the electronics maker said it planned to raise its earnings forecasts for the year ending March 2001.
Toyota Motor, Japan's biggest automaker, gained 1 percent after it said late on Friday it expected its parent-company net profit to climb to ¥100 billion ($927.9 million) in the six months ending Sept. 30, raising its previous forecast of ¥70 billion.
Liquid Audio Japan fell 5.1 percent after Internet investor Hikari Tsushin said it would sell its 9.2 percent stake in the online music distributor. Softbank, Japan's biggest Web investment company, rose 4.2 percent and Yahoo Japan added 2.2 percent.
In Hong Kong, China Mobile (Hong Kong) jumped 10.2 percent and Pacific Century CyberWorks climbed 6.3 percent in a buoyant session for telecom stocks, while telecommunication-to-property conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa added 4 percent.
The territory's largest bank, London-based HSBC Holdings, soared 4.8 percent. Hang Seng Bank rose 1.5 percent, Dao Heng Bank surged 8.6 percent and Bank of East Asia jumped 3.1 percent.
Among property stocks, Cheung Kong (Holdings), Hong Kong's largest real estate developer, rose 3.4 percent and No. 2 Sun Hung Kai Properties surged 7.9 percent.
In other markets, Taiwan's Weighted index rose almost 1 percent, Bangkok's composite SET index added 1.7 percent and Manila's PHS Composite index edged up 0.25 percent. The JSX index in Jakarta rose almost 1 percent, but Kuala Lumpur's KLSE composite index failed to catch the region's optimistic mood, dropping 0.5 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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