Asia watch

HOPES that the attack on Japan's bad-debt problems was finally under way lifted bank shares in

The Nikkei 225 fell 59.41 points to close at 10,802.15 despite the banks, which rose an average of 4%. The giant Mizuho group bounded almost 8% as investors identified it as the biggest potential winner. Foreign investors in search of havens safe from the potential world turmoil descended on telecoms leader NTT Docomo, which added 2%, while improving prospects for technology stocks lifted electronics manufacturers.

HSBC Holdings supplied what energy there was to be found in Hong Kong's market, where the Hang Seng index rose 41.7 points to 10,261.5. Enthusiasm for HSBC was also improved by plans to open a major back office system in Shanghai ahead of China's entry to the World Trade Organisation. The bank regained the 1.5% it lost on Tuesday after it denied reports that it was about to unwind a global online broking partnership with Merrill Lynch.

But the bull run in China counters that greeted Tuesday's announcement that the Beijing government would suspend new issues swiftly ran out as analysts warned this was likely to be temporary.

Taiwan's market shone with a 2.5% gain as technology stocks led the Weighted Average index up 100.87 points to 3975.29. Leading semiconductor manufacturers scored gains of up to 5% on signs that demand is beginning accelerate. Taiwan Semiconductor was the leader and rose 5% as investors bet that it would issue some comforting words about prospects as an antidote to what are expected to be grim third-quarter profits on Friday. Similar optimism affected South Korean investors, who picked up leading chipmakers and took the Kospi to 539 points, up 8.5.

Takeover talk added excitement to the Singapore market, where the Straits Times index advanced 14.9 points to 1420.4. Shipping-based conglomerate Keppel led the market with a rise of nearly 5% after it began talks on a possible merger of parts of its business with SembCorp, up 2%. Singapore Airlines stock climbed by 5% ahead of results on Friday despite estimates that higher fuel costs and falling traffic would have slashed earnings by up to 75% in the first six months.

Resource stocks and a firm News Corporation led Sydney's All Ordinaries index up 96.7 points to 3246 after an otherwise shaky start to trading. Investors moved on miners, which they reckoned were oversold despite softening metals prices, boosting BHP Billiton by 2.5% and Rio Tinto by 1.9%, while MIM jumped 5% after it announced plans to expand production and cut costs. News Corporation added 2% on hopes that an early US recovery would boost its earnings.

In soporific trading around smaller South-East Asian markets, Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite index edged up 0.84 points to 614.46, the SET in Thailand eased 0.9 points to 283.34, and Indonesia's Jakarta Composite notched up a 0.4 points gain to 391.82.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.