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Asian markets end mixed
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November 24, 2000: 6:03 a.m. ET
Techs rally in Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei; telecoms slump in HK
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's main markets ended mixed Friday, as tech shares lifted stock benchmarks in Tokyo, Singapore and Taipei while weak telecom shares dragged Hong Kong's main index into negative territory.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average index inched up 0.1 percent to end at 14,315.35 as strong tech shares offset losses in banking issues. Japanese and U.S. financial markets were closed Thursday.
Over the past week, the Nikkei lost 1.6 percent.
 Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended down 1.3 percent at 14,376.90, bringing the week's loss to 5.3 percent.
Singapore's Straits Times index rose 2.3 percent to close at 1,957.24, ending the week 0.2 percent up from last Friday's mark.
In the currency market, the Japanese yen weakened to a nine-month low of ¥111.15 against the dollar, from ¥110.30 in late European trade Thursday, as investors fretted over the country's political situation.
On the Tokyo exchange, banking shares came under pressure amid renewed concerns that corporate bankruptcies and bad loans indicate a profit crunch for major lenders.
Mitsui Construction fell 4.9 percent after it said it might seek debt forgiveness from its main lenders while debt-laden retailer Daiei asked its creditor banks to buy ¥120 billion ($1.1 billion) of preferred stock to raise cash. Daiei, which said it would cut 4,000 staff, jumped 15.6 percent.
Sakura Bank, a creditor of Mitsui, ended down 4.9 percent while Daiei lender Sanwa Bank lost 5.3 percent
Mobile-phone operator NTT DoCoMo, the market's largest company by capitalization, fell 5.1 percent.
Among tech shares, Fujitsu rose 4.9 percent, Toshiba added 2 percent and Sony ended 1.6 percent higher.
Internet investor Hikari Tsushin surged 8 percent. Rival Softbank ended down 3.1 percent after reporting it swung to a first-half net profit of ¥36.3 billion ($330 million) from a loss of ¥3.5 billion a year earlier.
Shake-up for Chinese mobile fees
In Hong Kong, China Mobile, the Hang Seng index's second-largest stock, fell 7.1 percent while China Unicom, the industry's No. 2 in mainland China, dived 10 percent to its lowest close since the company listed in June. The shares were dented by the Chinese government's proposal to charge only users making mobile phone calls, a change from the current system where both the mobile phone caller and receiver pay for calls.
"Both stocks are still clouded by this uncertainty over China's plan to change telecom service charges," said David Williamson, sales director at China Everbright Securities.
HSBC Holdings was down 0.5 percent while Bank of East Asia fell 2.5 percent. Cathay Pacific Airways ended down 1.4 percent.
Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 2.9 percent following a healthy response to its offering of luxury residential apartments, while China's largest oil and gas producer PetroChina rose 1.4 percent.
In Singapore, chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor rose 3.8 percent while Venture Manufacturing surged 6.8 percent.
Bank DBS Group Holding advanced 3.9 percent and Singapore Telecommunications added 1.8 percent.
Banking, tech shares lift Taipei
Taipei's Taiwan Weighted index surged more than 5 percent to 5,419.99 as takeover hopes fueled gains for financial shares after the island's parliament passed legislation paving the way for mergers between financial institutions.
 Chinatrust Commercial Bank climbed 7 percent, the limit for a rise in any share price in a single day, and China Development Industrial Bank advanced 6 percent. Both banks said they plan to expand into asset management.
"Banking stocks act as a benchmark of confidence in the Taiwan stock market and financial shares have led the way in recent losses. With the banking merger law coming to life in the legislature, there is good fundamental reason for them to rebound," Lei Pei-yu, an asset manager for Pacific Securities proprietary trading, said.
Tech shares also rose. The market's biggest stock, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and United Microelectronics both climbed by the daily limit.
In Seoul, the KOSPI ended up 3.2 percent as Hanvit Bank and Cho Hung Bank each surged more than 14 percent.
Semiconductor maker Samsung Electronics ended up 5.9 percent and rival memory chip firm Hyundai Electronics Industries closed 4.6 percent higher.
New Shell offer for Woodside
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 index slipped just 0.6 of a point to 3,280.6 as gains in market heavyweight News Corp. and natural resource stocks outweighed weak banking and industrial shares.
News Corp., the index's biggest company by market capitalization, ended up 0.9 percent.
Australian oil and gas producer Woodside rose 5.2 percent to 15.25 Australian dollars after Anglo-Dutch oil firm Royal Dutch/Shell offered to raise its stake in the company to more than 50 percent for 14.80 Australian dollars per share plus a call option.
National Australia Bank fell 1.7 percent, losing most of the 2.2 percent gain it made Thursday's after its sale of Michigan National Corp. bank.
Elsewhere in the region, Bangkok's SET index ended up 0.4 percent, Jakarta's JSX index inched up 0.2 percent, the KLSE Composite index in Kuala Lumpur added 0.7 percent and Manila's PHS Composite index ended down 0.4 percent.
--from staff and wire reports 
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