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Tokyo, HK close higher
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January 16, 2001: 6:04 a.m. ET
Autos, banks power modest gains in Tokyo, HK climbs on property, telcos
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian markets made modest gains Tuesday with many eyes on corporate earnings and data due out later this week on Wall Street.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 average added 78.22 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 13,584.45, with Toyota Motor, Japan's biggest auto marker, jumping almost 13 percent after announcing a share buyback.
 "I see this strong desire among investors to see how the U.S. opens and performs, with quite a few earnings announcements coming up this week," said Toshio Tahara, chief fund manager at Sumisei Global Investment Trust Management.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 69.39 points, or more than 0.4 percent, to 15,363.15, led by modest gains for index heavyweight China Mobile and property conglomerate Cheung Kong.
In Sydney, the benchmark ASX/S&P 200 index closed down 0.3 percent at 3,184.3, and the Straits Times in Singapore slipped 0.7 percent to 1,916.02, with media giant Singapore Press Holdings down 3 percent, and Chartered Semiconductor sliding 4.4 percent.
 In the currency market, the yen firmed slightly to ¥118.40 against the U.S. dollar after trading around ¥119 earlier in the session, although the Japanese currency remains close to its lowest level in 17 months.
NEC Corp, the world's second largest maker of chips behind Intel Corp (INTC: Research, Estimates), rose 0.9 percent, Japan's No. 1 personal computer maker Fujitsu added 1.3 percent and Matsushita Electric Industrial, the world's biggest consumer electronics company, gained 1.1 percent, while close competitor Sony dipped 0.6 percent.
"Generally, a weaker yen is healthy for exporters and the economy. But the stock market doesn't have much else going for it," said Masaharu Sakudo, managing director at Tachibana Securities.
Some traders said a weaker yen underlined a lack of confidence in Japan's economy, although it boosts the value of exporters' and overseas manufacturers' revenues earned overseas when they are repatriated into the Japanese currency.
Autos stocks made rapid gains for the second session. Toyota Motor jumped 12.8 percent after the automaker said it planned to buy back and retire up to 75 million shares by spending up to ¥250 billion ($2.10 billion).
Toyota shares had been under pressure in recent sessions on market speculation the automaker and its banks would soon unwind mutually held shares, due to planned bank mergers and a new accounting system to go into effect in April.
Banking stocks gained Tuesday on speculation they would unwind their holdings in various companies. Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank, jumped 4.2 percent, Tokai Bank added 1.7 percent, Sumitomo Bank gained 1.3 percent and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi rose 3.8 percent.
Hong Kong lifted by telecoms
 Hong Kong stocks rose, led by telecom heavyweight China Mobile, the mainland's biggest mobile phone operator, which climbed 1.1 percent.
Internet and telecom company Pacific Century CyberWorks came under further selling pressure, sliding almost 3 percent.
PCCW hit HK$4.00, a new low since the company took over Cable & Wireless HKT in August, on persistent fears that large shareholder Cable & Wireless (CW-) may unload PCCW shares when a lock-up period expires late next month.
"PCCW is being driven down on speculation," said Herbert Lau, research director at Celestial Asia Securities. "We calculate that its net asset value is about HK$6.00."
Among property stocks, Cheung Kong (Holdings), the territory's biggest property developer, gained 1.5 percent and Henderson Land climbed 2.4 percent.
In Australia, transport and logistics group Brambles shot as much as A$1.90, or 4.6 percent, higher to A$43.50 as investors decided its merger talks with British-based engineer GKN (GKN) were positive. Brambles said Monday it was in merger talks with GKN, but brokers said then the discussions were little understood.
Banking stocks were generally weaker. National Australia Bank, Australia's biggest bank and the third largest component on the market, and No. 2 Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell 2 percent each.
In other markets, the KOSPI index in Seoul rose 0.7 percent, the Taiwan Weighted index shot up 5.3 percent, Jakarta's JSX index added 0.8 percent and Mumbai's BSE Sensex advanced 0.7 percent.
Bangkok's SET index slipped 2.9 percent, the PHS composite dipped 1 percent in Manila and the KLSE composite in Malaysia declined 0.5 percent.
--from staff and wire reports 
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