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Asia rises, but techs reel
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October 3, 2000: 6:14 a.m. ET
Investors opt for financial, property stocks after techs follow Nasdaq down
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's markets mostly closed higher Tuesday, as investors plugged into banking and property stocks after the U.S. Nasdaq market's latest plunge made them leery of technology shares.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed up 9.58 points, or 0.1 percent, at 15,912.09 after the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey of business confidence improved to a better-than-expected reading of plus 10 in the July-to-September quarter, up from plus three in the April-June period.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong ended up 76.98 points, or 0.5 percent, at 15,725.96. Global bank HSBC Holdings rose 2.7 percent after denying a report that said the UK-based lender was mulling a merger with U.S. securities firm Merrill Lynch (MER: Research, Estimates).
Elsewhere among Asia's leading markets, the Straits Times index in Singapore rose 5.19 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 1,978.14 despite big losses for top computer chip makers. Chartered Semiconductor sank 10.5 percent and Venture Manufacturing dropped 8.8 percent.
Australia's S&P/ASX index added 0.8 percent to close at 3,327.1.
In  Taipei, the Taiwan Weighted index jumped 2 percent amid a rally for leading banking shares. Seoul's market was closed for a holiday.
Wall Street ended mixed Monday. The Nasdaq composite shed 103.92 points to close at 3,568.90 amid weakness in Internet and biotech stocks, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 49.21 points, or 0.5 percent, to 10,700.13.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar rose to ¥108.75, up from ¥108.34 at the end of the previous business day in Tokyo.
Techs languish
Chipmakers across Asia tumbled in the latest bout of tech-share jitters. Tokyo Electron, which produces semiconductor-manufacturing equipment, fell 5 percent and Advantest, a maker of semiconductor testing devices, shed 3 percent.
Asahi National Broadcasting, the smallest of Japan's four big commercial TV networks, staged a weak market debut, as expected, falling to ¥390,000 from its initial public offering price of ¥400,000.
Electronics heavyweight Sony fell 1 percent, while NTT DoCoMo, the world's second-largest mobile-phone company, added 1.3 percent. Electric wire and cable maker Fujikura jumped 7.7 percent after UBS Warburg raised its target price on the company late Monday.
Among other bellwether technology stocks, Internet investor Softbank dropped 1.6 percent.
In Hong Kong, Internet company Pacific Century CyberWorks fell 2.8 percent after a report it's ready to give up a controlling stake in its mobile-phone unit to secure an accord with Australian telecom leader Telstra. The companies are in talks in Sydney to try to finalize a joint venture agreement to create an Internet Protocol network and a mobile telecom network.
Bank shares were mostly higher as money flowed out of tech stocks.  Mizuho Holdings, the result of last month's three-way bank merger, rose 5.4 percent and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi gained 4.5 percent. Sanwa Bank rose 4.5 percent.
In Singapore, United Overseas Bank jumped 4.8 percent and OCBC climbed 3.6 percent. Among property companies, City Development rose 3.6 percent.
 In Hong Kong, Hang Seng Bank jumped 2.7 percent while conglomerate First Pacific, which has holdings in the banking sector, rallied 9.7 percent.
Bellwether cell-phone firm China Mobile dropped 1.5 percent, one of
the leading casualties of the previous day's 2.8-percent drop in the Nasdaq
composite index. The latest earnings warning from U.S. copier maker Xerox (XRX: Research, Estimates) also could be weighing on tech shares, traders said.
Among other Asian markets, Jakarta's JSX index shed 1.1 percent, the KLSE composite in Malaysia rose 0.65 percent, Thailand's SET index fell 2.15 percent and Manila's PHS composite dropped 2.1 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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