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IPO, bank news boost Tokyo
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October 22, 1998: 10:06 a.m. ET
NTT's DoCoMo launch goes well; two more banks agree to govt. money
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Tokyo stocks held firm Wednesday on relief that the initial public offering of NTT's DoCoMo, the world's biggest ever, went more smoothly than had been expected.
News that two more banks were willing to consider accepting government financial support boosted the Nikkei more than 3 percent early on. However, an announcement by Moody's that the credit rating agency would review five regional banks for possible downgrade dampened enthusiasm, and the index lost most of its gains by the close.
Asian bourses were steady with the good news of more gains in New York Wednesday offset by falls in most of the major European bourses.
Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan and Thailand all finished the day's trading little changed from where they started the day.
Singapore and Indonesia slipped between 1 and 2 percent.
In Japan traders were wary that recent gains could prove unsustainable.
The Nikkei stock average closed up 79.23 points or 0.56 percent at 14,295.56. It had climbed 400 points at one stage. December Nikkei futures rose 30 to 14,300.
NTT DoCoMo shares jumped 19 percent from their IPO price of 3.9 million yen to close at 4.65 million yen ($40,000).
An announcement by Fuji Bank that it was considering applying for an injection of public funds under the government's bank recapitalization scheme sent its shares up 6.81 percent to 486 Yen.
Tokai Bank, which said it was considering a similar move, was up 1.95 percent to 626 Yen.
Following some steep declines in the Nikkei in recent months and with the Japanese government becoming more involved in the markets, restrictions on the short-selling of shares in Japanese companies go into effect on Friday.
"The market wanted to rally," Lehman Brothers chief economist Russell Jones said. "But I don't think anything fundamental has changed."
"We are of the opinion the rally was going a bit beyond itself. The economic fundamentals have not changed but it was driven by a little bit of euphoria attached to DoCoMo and fear attached to the new short-selling regulations that are coming in."
As if to demonstrate the extent of the country's economic problems, after the market closed leading securities house Nomura reported a group net loss of 207.26 billion yen in the first half of this fiscal year. It made a profit of 49.7 billion yen in the same period a year ago.
Hong Kong was also steady in low trade with little fresh news to move the market. The market gave up early gains to finish at 9658.58, down 3.54 points.
Heavyweight HSBC supported the index, rising HK$3.00 to HK$181.00.
But China-related stocks were still down on fears that other mainland investment vehicles could be set to go the way of GITIC, which collapsed earlier this month.
The China-Affiliated Corporations index lost 4.79 percent while the H-share index - covering Hong Kong listed companies owned by mainland concerns - ended down 3.17 percent.
"People are tending to wait and see until tomorrow when there will possible be an interest rate cut again," said Core Pacific Yamaichi sales director Terry Cheung.
"If turnover continues to drip down in the next few days it would be easy for the index to drift back down to the 9,200 level."
But across the region there was little real movement in stocks.
Korea closed up 1.72 points at 382.52 despite fears that the takeover of Kia Motors and Asia Motors by Hyundai could spell the end for Samsung's involvement in the car business.
Samsung later said it planned to increase production and hinted it was in talks with European manufacturers to shore up production, investment and expertise.
After its recent impressive gains, the Indonesian rupiah headed south, back through the 7,500 barrier against the dollar.
The Jakarta Composite index slipped 5.526 points to 317.795 by its close.
Australia's All Ordinaries index closed at 2,542.2 up just 2.2 points.
The Philippines closed unchanged at 1494.62 while Taiwan shed 33.63 points to a 6987.79 point close.
Malaysian stocks finished 2.81 points lower at 421.56 ahead of Friday's expected economy-boosting budget.
Thailand ended the day down 1.48 points or 0.46 percent to 321.57.
On the back of its recent gains, Singapore shares slid. The Straits Times index closed down 23.41 points or 2.05 percent to 1117.50. 
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