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Blue chips spur Asia
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October 31, 2000: 6:01 a.m. ET
Strong banks, autos offset losses for tech, telecom stocks in Tokyo
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's markets closed higher Tuesday, with upbeat financial and auto sectors in Tokyo overcoming weakness for telecom and technology stocks, while property and banking issues boosted Hong Kong's Hang Seng.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average rose 75.04 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 14,539.60, after falling to a new 19-month low Monday. Mizuho Financial, the world's biggest bank by assets, jumped 3.1 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 95.44 points, or 0.6 percent, to 14,895.34, due to broad gains across the index. Legend Holdings, China's biggest computer maker, added 2.3 percent after reporting a 134 percent rise in net income to HK$408.3 million ($52.3 million) for its fiscal half-year.
The Straits Times index in Singapore rose 1 percent to 1,1976.54, while Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 percent to 3,254.6. On other leading Asian markets, the KOSPI in Seoul rallied 1.9 percent but Taipei's Taiwan Weighted index fell 2 percent as top chipmakers retreated. 
Asia's markets reflected Wall Street's performance on Monday: blue-chip stocks on the Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 2.3 percent, its biggest one-day percentage gain since April; the technology-rich Nasdaq composite fell 87.02 points, or 2.7 percent, to 3,191.34.
In the currency market, the dollar climbed to ¥109.04, compared to ¥108.91 in late New York trading Monday. It was the first time the U.S. currency rose above the ¥109 mark since early October.
Banks in Japan revive
Leading Japanese banks, which have been working to shake off concerns about their loan portfolios, showed signs of a rebound. Tokai Bank and Sanwa Bank each rose 1.7 percent, while Sumitomo added 0.8 percent and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi climbed 1.6 percent.
After the market close, Sumitomo Bank upped its interim profit estimates due to one-time share gains.
Japan's auto sector was also upbeat. Nissan Motor rose 9.5 percent, after the automaker, which is owned 37-percent by France's Renault, on Monday revised up its income forecast for the year through next March to ¥250 billion ($2.3 billion) from ¥60 billion.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. rose 5 percent, extending Monday's 3.5 percent gain. The Financial Times said on Monday that German-U.S. automobile firm DaimlerChrysler AG was considering restructuring Mitsubishi Motors, in which it owns a 34-percent stake.
High-tech bellwether Sony shed 5.1 percent, feeling hung over from the Nasdaq decline and disappointing earnings numbers unveiled last week. Sony has lost 15.7 percent since it unveiled its earnings results for the half year to September last Thursday. 
Sony rival Matsushita Electric Industrial rallied 3.6 percent. The world's largest consumer electronics maker announced late on Monday a more than 50 percent jump in operating profit for the past half year on strong demand for electronics parts, including chips and liquid crystal displays. Operating profit soared 53 percent to ¥99.6 billion ($917 million), stronger than analysts had expected.
Mobile phone titan NTT DoCoMo fell 4.2 percent after a Financial Times report that it is in talks with AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) about taking a minority stake in the U.S. firm's mobile phone arm ignited concerns among investors over possible new share issues to fund the deal. DoCoMo is considering taking a stake of between 10 and 20 percent in AT&T Wireless, costing DoCoMo an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion, the newspaper said.
AT&T officials were not immediately available for comment and DoCoMo, which is known to be interested in striking international alliances, declined comment to CNNfn.com. DoCoMo parent NTT fell along with its mobile phone unit, closing down 3.6 percent.
Sega Enterprises added 5.7 percent, nearly reversing Monday's 9.6 percent loss that after the maker of video game hardware and software announced Friday it expects a group net loss of ¥22.1 billion for the year to next March, down from a previous forecast of ¥1.5 billion profit.
Banks get a lift in Hong Kong
Hong Kong property and banking stocks got a lift from expectations U.S. interest rates will not be on the rise after recent reports pointed to slowing growth rates in the world's biggest economy. Hong Kong is sensitive to U.S. rate moves because the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Bank HSBC Holdings added 1.4 percent, Hang Seng Bank rose 2.2 percent. In the property sector, New World Development climbed 4.5 percent and conglomerate First Pacific jumped 7.3 percent.
One bright spot in Asia's telecom sector was Hong Kong mobile phone operator SmarTone Telecommunications, which tacked on 6 percent.
In Singapore, trading in electronics contract manufacturer NEL, widely believed to be a takeover target, and its largest shareholder NatSteel was suspended for a second straight day pending an announcement from the two companies.
In the Singapore property sector, City Development rose 3.9 percent, while among banks OCBC rose 3.7 percent and Overseas Union Bank climbed 2.4 percent.
In Sydney, software firm Sausage Software plunged 6.9 percent. Australian resource firms fared well, with miner Rio Tinto up 2.1 percent. Media conglomerate News Corp. fell 1.9 percent.
Elsewhere in Asia, the KLSE composite in Malaysia fell 2.8 percent, the Thailand SET index rose 0.6 percent, the PHS composite in Manila added 0.25 percent and the JSX index in Jakarta rose 0.3 percent. The Sensex in Mumbai nudged up 0.6 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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