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Asia rallies behind techs
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November 1, 2000: 6:11 a.m. ET
Nikkei jumps 2.3%, led by telecom sector, Sony; HK adds 3.1%
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's top markets roared upward Wednesday, as a revival on Wall Street put the wind back in the sails of key technology and telecom stocks across the region and a deal in Singapore revived interest in top chip companies.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 average in Tokyo rose 332.79 points, or 2.3 percent, to close at 14,872.39, trimming its year-to-date loss to 21 percent. The Nikkei 500 index's communications sector sub-index rallied 4.8 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 453.67 points, or 3.1 percent, to 15,349.01. Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa rose 6.5 percent following brokerage upgrades, and international bank HSBC Holdings leapt 4.2 percent on robust earnings from its U.S. subsidiary.
The Straits Times index in Singapore rose 63.47 points, or 3.2 percent, to 2,040.01, its highest close since Sept. 15. It was led by a 64.5-percent rally for NatSteel after U.S.-based Solectron (SLR: Research, Estimates) agreed to buy the contract electronics maker for $2.4 billion. NatSteel had been halted for the previous two sessions pending the announcement.
Elsewhere, the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney climbed 0.7 percent, Korea's KOSPI jumped 6.6 percent behind strong chip shares, while the Taiwan Weighted index in Taipei slipped 2.2 percent as investors continued to fret about a political crisis triggered by the government's decision to scrap a nuclear power plant. 
Booming gains for the tech sector on Wall Street rejuvenated Asia. The Nasdaq composite, which has been in a downdraft in recent weeks, rose 178.15 points, or about 5.6 percent, to 3,369.55. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 135.37 points to 10,971.14.
"Today's rally is following overseas markets," according to Vincent Koo, chief investment officer at Polaris Asset Management Ltd., referring to the Hong Kong market gains. "What we lack is a fund inflow from the U.S. and Europe. In the past few days some money in the U.S. has flowed back to equities but it's too soon to tell whether liquidity will come back to Asia," he added.
In the currency market, the dollar slipped to ¥108.45 from ¥109.05 in late New York trading a day earlier.
Revival for techs and telecoms
High-tech bellwether Sony surged 6.1 percent, rebounding in part from a 16-percent loss over the past four days following a disappointing earnings report, which had also pulled down other leading technology stocks. The stock hit a new intra-day low for the year on Tuesday.
Among Sony rivals, Fujitsu rose 4.9 percent and Toshiba added 3 percent, but Matsushita Electric Industrial, the world's biggest consumer electronics maker and owner of the Panasonic brand, nudged up only 0.3 percent.
Hitachi firmed 2.1 percent after the electronics maker reported a nearly 13-fold jump in consolidated net profit for the past half year on robust demand for chips used in digital cameras and mobile phones.
Audio equipment maker Pioneer jumped 7.4 percent amid upbeat expectations for its second-quarter earnings report, which came after the market close. Pioneer said it scored a 10-fold jump in consolidated net profit in the three months to September, buoyed by brisk sales of DVD players and plasma displays.
In the telecom sector, NTT DoCoMo, the world's second-biggest mobile phone operator, jumped 8.6 percent, while its parent NTT rose 2.7 percent. KDDI, another telecom company, jumped 10.2 percent and Japan Telecom powered up 14.6 percent. 
Helped by the Nasdaq recovery, Internet investor Softbank rebounded from its year low the previous day, rising 8.6 percent.
Chipmaker NEC rose 5.8 percent while Furukawa Electric jumped 9.8 percent after U.S.-based JDS Uniphase (JDSU: Research, Estimates), in which Furukawa has a 14 percent stake, climbed 14 percent on the Nasdaq market.
Companies with good earnings results on Tuesday also drew buyers.
Trend Micro, a computer virus software developer strong in Internet security services, rose 14.9 percent, while Takeda Chemical Industries climbed 3.6 percent after the drug maker reported a 52 percent rise in half-year group net profit and raised its forecast for the year to March to a record ¥168 billion.
Sharp rose 5.8 percent, ending a three-session losing streak. The liquid crystal display maker on Tuesday reported that group net profit for the past half-year rose more than 60 percent. It maintained an upbeat earnings forecast for its full-year group operating profit estimate at a record ¥105 billion.
Nissan Motor fell 2.9 percent to 738, succumbing to profit-taking after the past month's rally. Rival Mazda Motor powered up 14.2 percent after a top executive said the company was likely to meet its first-half profit estimates. It is expected to post those numbers on Nov. 17.
In Hong Kong, Cheung Kong Holdings, an associate of Hutchison Whampoa, added 4.9 percent. Index heavyweight China Mobile (Hong Kong) rose 0.5 percent, while distribution and import/export company China Resources tacked on 6.3 percent.
China's biggest computer maker, Legend Holdings, rose 1.5 percent on news of a 135 percent leap in its interim profit on Tuesday.
Singapore techs shine
Singapore's tech sector rocketed higher. Gul Technologies, a maker of printed circuit boards, jumped 15.6 percent, while chip foundry Chartered Semiconductor shot up 13.8 percent and contract electronics manufacturer Venture Manufacturing gained 10.6 percent.
Straits Times index heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications added 1.4 percent. After the market close, South Korea's state-run Korea Telecom said it was in stake sale talks with three telecom firms, including SingTel, Australia's Telstra and Hong Kong's Pacific Century CyberWorks.
PCCW closed unchanged in Hong Kong, Telstra rose 1.3 percent in Sydney and Korea Telecom closed up 7 percent.
Also in Seoul, chip maker Samsung Electronics rose 14.4 percent while in Taipei, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, fell 1 percent and United Microelectronics shed 2.6 percent.
Elsewhere across the Pacific Rim, the KLSE composite index in Malaysia shed 0.8 percent, the JSX index in Jakarta rose 1 percent, Manila's PHS composite added 0.25 percent, the Thailand SET gained 2.9 percent and the Sensex in Mumbai added 2.1 percent. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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