LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian markets mostly rose Monday as technology and telecom stocks led gains across the region. The Philippines' main share index posted its biggest-ever gain, surging almost 17 percent on speculation that President Joseph Estrada would soon bring the country's political crisis to an end by resigning.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average of 225 stocks soared 533.66 points, or 3.6 percent, to close at 15,371.44, led by Toshiba and traditional "old-economy" stocks such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, as calm in the U.S. market ahead of Tuesday's presidential election encouraged investors.
"It seems the U.S. market won't be affected too much by election results, and that's quite reassuring," said Katsuhiko Kodama, head of equities at  Toyo Securities. "Investors are slowly regaining their confidence, and the Nikkei should start to establish support around 15,000."
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 77.03 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 15,671.15, with China Mobile and Richard Li's Pacific Century CyberWorks leading gains.
But Singapore's Straits Times Index ended down 2.6 percent at 2,006.84, with a sell-off in banking stocks as speculation about takeovers and mergers in the sector petered out. Overseas Union Bank plunged 8 percent after the smallest of Singapore's four big banks said it was in not a takeover target, but was selling a small stake.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index edged up 12.5 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,279.0. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which represents 12.5 percent of the benchmark index, rose 1 percent as investors anticipated its first-quarter results, due on Thursday. Banking stocks also rose, led by Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Political outlook cheers Philippines
In Manila, the PHS Composite surged 212.25 points to end at 1,500.10, as Philippine Long Distance Telephone rocketed 19.4 percent, on the prospect of President Estrada's resignation. The country had been thrown into political turmoil after allegations surfaced that the president took bribes from illegal gambling syndicates, a claim he has denied. The justice committee of the House of Representatives was set to begin discussing an opposition-sponsored motion of impeachment later on Monday.
In Asian currency markets, the yen weakened slightly to ¥107.32 against the U.S. dollar, from ¥107 in late New York trade on Friday.
Microchip and electronics maker Toshiba rose 3.9 percent as investors applauded news it was in talks with Germany's Siemens about a cooperation deal to produce next-generation mobile telephones.
 Technology stocks got a boost from U.S. mobile-communications equipment company Qualcomm (QCOM: Research, Estimates), which beat lowered earnings expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter on Friday.
Sony, the high-tech sector's bellwether issue, jumped 4.1 percent. Tokyo Electron, a maker of chip manufacturing equipment, rose 9.1 percent and Advantest, which makes semiconductor-testing equipment, soared 7.2 percent.
Among other high-techs, Internet investor Softbank surged 14.2 percent. Softbank has extensive investments in stocks listed on the U.S. Nasdaq market, which rose on Friday after better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings from wireless technology company Qualcomm (QCOM: Research, Estimates).
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Japan's dominant phone operator, rose 1 percent, and its separately listed mobile-phone unit NTT DoCoMo gained 2.4 percent.
Several "old-economy" stocks also continued to attract buyers on hopes that restructuring would boost profits. Mitsubishi Heavy rose 2.1 percent and fellow shipbuilder Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy
Industries gained almost 6 percent.
In contrast, Nissan Motor fell 4.1 percent after a newspaper reported the company may have hidden consumer complaints about its vehicles.
In Hong Kong, China Mobile, mainland China's biggest cellular-phone company, rose 3.4 percent. Analysts said sentiment toward the stock was improving because the company's $4.1 billion share placement was out of the way and its planned acquisition of seven mobile-phone networks in mainland China would make it the world's No. 2 mobile operator behind Britain's Vodafone Group.
Internet and telecom company Pacific Century CyberWorks rose 0.6 percent on news the company had secured $4.7 billion in refinancing from lenders.
Elsewhere in the region, Thailand's SET index rose 1.4 percent. The Taiwan Weighted index slipped 0.4 percent and South Korea's KOSPI lost 0.7 percent. 
--from staff and wire reports
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