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Markets & Stocks
Asia ends in mixed fashion
July 14, 2000: 5:56 a.m. ET

Tokyo revives from Sogo woe, HK gets telecom boost; others head lower
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's leading markets ended mixed on Friday, with regional leader Tokyo moving higher as scars of a high-profile bankruptcy began to heal while Hong Kong's leading index got a boost from gains in the telecom sector.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 106 points, a gain of 0.6 percent, at 17,142.90, with support coming from rise of nearly 2 percent in the U.S. Nasdaq composite index a day earlier. The index ended the week down 1.5 percent from the previous Friday.

graphicThe Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 136.66 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 17,487. For the week as a whole, the Hang Seng climbed 4.5 percent. Telecom and real estate firm Hutchison Whampoa led Friday's advance, rising 3.9 percent. Media reports have said the company is considering an alliance with Japan's NTT DoCoMo to bid for U.S.-based mobile phone firm VoiceStream Wireless (VSTR: Research, Estimates).

Singapore's Straits Times index fell 5.12 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,072.83, completing a drop of 0.6 percent for the week. Index heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications shed 1.3 percent Friday.

In other leading Pacific Rim markets, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 0.1 percent to 3,303.5, to close little changed from a week earlier. graphicThe Kospi index in Seoul fell 2.1 percent, while the Taiwan Weighted index in Taipei jumped 2.8 percent on strong buying of shares by government funds, as well as the Nasdaq's gain and a cooling of tensions between Taiwan and China.

In the currency market, the dollar rose to ¥108.32 from ¥108.25 in late New York trading Thursday. Traders were awaiting a policy-board meeting by the Bank of Japan, slated for Monday, to see whether the bank will change its 17-month old zero interest-rate policy.

Sogo, the department store operator that filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, tumbled another 77 percent. The Tokyo stock exchange has removed limits on its daily share price moves and will de-list Sogo on Oct. 13.

Industrial Bank of Japan, Sogo's main creditor, rose 2.4 percent, recouping part of the previous day's 7.9 percent loss. Ratings firm Standard & Poor's said Friday the government's withdrawal of a planned debt forgiveness package for Sogo would have only a limited impact on its lenders' finances.

Building firm nears reconstruction?


Construction company Hazama soared 20 percent after Jiji news agency said Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank plans to take over part of Shinsei Bank's loans to the troubled company to facilitate its reconstruction. DKB said nothing has been decided on the matter. The company's shares fell sharply Thursday as the collapse of Sogo fueled concerns over the financial health of heavily indebted contractors.

In the technology sector, consumer electronics behemoth Sony rose 3.2 percent, rival Fujitsu climbed 1.5 percent, while Internet investor Softbank roes 5.8 percent. NTT DoCoMo rose 3.6 percent.

In Hong Kong, Cable & Wireless HKT fell 0.3 percent while Pacific Century CyberWorks shed 1.6 percent. Hang Seng Index compiler HSI Services said Friday it would officially announce "very soon" the replacement of Cable & Wireless HKT with PCCW in the index following their merger.

China Mobile, formerly called China Telecom, added 1 percent.

Shares of Henderson Cyber, a technology spin-off of real-estate company Henderson Land Development, fell 7.2 percent from their issue price of HK$1.25 on their debut on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market. Henderson Land shares rose 1.1 percent.

Cheung Kong Holdings, parent of Hutchison Whampoa, rose 3.5 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Jakarta's JSX index fell 0.1 percent, Manila's PHS composite fell 0.5 percent, the KLSE composite in Malaysia dropped 1.1 percent, and in Bangkok, the SET index also fell 1.1 percent. Back to top

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.