LONDON (Dow Jones) - Boosted by a strengthening U.S. dollar, Asian stocks closed generally higher Tuesday, though Japan's tech-sensitive Nikkei 225 ended lower ahead of Intel Corp. earnings.

The Nikkei fell 0.36% to 13,352.24, its fifth straight losing session and longest negative run since May.

Tokyo's broader TOPIX index finished virtually unchanged at 1,392.69 as steel and bank shares rebounded and oil stocks advanced.

The Nikkei fell on losses by tech firms such as Advantest Corp. .

Elsewhere in the region, most indexes posted gains.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.41% to 14,601.57; Sydney's All Ordinaries index gained 0.74% to 4,422.50; Seoul's Kospi added 0.84% to 1,186.22; and Taipei's Weighted index rose 0.08% to 5,830.79.

Joining the Nikkei in negative territory was the Singapore Straits Times index, which shed 0.22% to 2,823.53.

Japan is not considering intervening in the foreign exchange markets as the yen fell to its lowest levels against the dollar in two years on Tuesday, a top government spokesman said, Reuters reported.

In corporate news, Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. said it likely swung to a first-half net profit instead of the loss it previously forecast, helped by healthy demand for mobile phone base stations and steps to cut production costs.

The computers-to-chips conglomerate left its full-year forecast unchanged, however, citing an unclear outlook for IT-related demand in the second half.

Japan's third-largest shipper, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. , said it has signed a very large crude carrier term charter contract with U.S. major Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), starting in June 2007 . Kawasaki Kisen declined to comment on details, including the value and length of the contract.

In China news, Swedish telecommunications equipment giant Ericsson (ERICY) said it has won orders worth $290 million to expand the GSM networks of Chinese mobile operators Guangdong Mobile and Guangxi Mobile.

Citigroup, Inc. (C), HSBC and Credit Suisse Group's (CSR) CSFB are separately bidding for a majority stake in a mid-sized Chinese brokerage, sources close to the Chinese firm said, Reuters reported.

Dutch chemicals group DSM NV said it has bought Syntech, a Chinese producer and marketer of coating resins with annual sales of around $30 million .

China's top mobile-phone operator China Mobile is expected to report third- quarter earnings up 20% to 40% this week as it grabs market share from smaller rival China Unicom Ltd, analysts said, according to Reuters.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS) raised its cash offer for Australian online property-listings site realestate.com.au Ltd. to A$151 million ( $112 million ) from A$121 million.

U.S. crude oil and natural-gas futures closed Monday at their highest levels in about two weeks as the season's 21st tropical storm and its potential threat to energy output in the Gulf of Mexico overshadowed a lower demand forecast from key oil producers. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting that Tropical Storm Wilma will become a hurricane on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks ended higher Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at its best level in two weeks after Altria Group Inc. (MO) surged on a favorable court ruling barring government confiscation of cigarette-sales revenues and General Motors Corp. (GM) rallied on the back of a union deal to cut health-care costs.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-18-05 0545ET Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Copyright (C) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.