Big Blue puts life back into techs

THE good-news/bad-news syndrome continued to drive Asian markets today after results from International Business Machines came in ahead of the consensus target.

Although net income of Big Blue slumped 97%, the earnings were marginally ahead of most analysts' forecasts, lifting the shares and ending Wall Street's seven-day slump.

This lightened the previous day's gloom, brought on by disappointing earnings from Apple, Intel and Motorola, and put some life back into technology shares around the region. Sentiment was also lifted by optimistic follow-up statements from Intel and mobile phones group Motorola, which had disappointed the market on Tuesday with lower- than- expected second-quarter earnings.

Japanese stocks built on yesterday's late rally, which had been triggered by an upbeat economic report from the Bank of Japan, and the Nikkei Average rose 202.24 to 10,498.26. Shares in Sony Corporation rebounded after it hotly denied a newspaper report that it had been juggling its figures.

The gain of 3% was also helped by a weakening of the yen as wary foreign exchange dealers searched for signs that the Tokyo government was preparing to renew its intervention.

Stocks of Japanese carmakers pulled away from recent lows, with market leader Toyota adding more than 2%. A report by electronics giant Toshiba that it was having to lengthen its working hours to meet demand for chips pushed its stock up almost 5%, and provided a further tonic for the sector.

New York's rally brought out some cautious buyers in Hong Kong, and the Hang Seng index pulled back from an eightmonthlow with a 62.76-point gain to 10,397.88. Index heavyweight HSBC Holdings responded to a firmer tone in its London quote with a rise of 50 cents to HK$87.25 but progress was slowed by the overhang of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) issue, and reports that recent poor market conditions could see the pricing of the stock at the low end of the range set by lead manager Goldman Sachs.

Motorola's forecast of third-quarter profits cheered investors in Taiwan's technology-heavy market, which ended three days of falls with a modest 5.22-point rise to 5256.04. Trade was subdued by the continuing strength of the Taiwanese dollar, which rose to 14-month highs yesterday, putting a question mark over the country's export performance.

Old-economy stocks revived South Korea's Kospi, which put on 6.52 points to 777.97, as shares in steel giant Posco added 3% on a forecast of higher profits. Singapore-investors were reluctant to commit to stocks while markets remained volatile and the Straits Times index dipped 2.53 points to 1580.77.

Wall Street's modest rally was enough to pull Sydney stocks back up after their recent dive, which took the market to ninemonth lows. The All Ordinaries rallied 26.9 to 3099.4, as News Corp benefited from New York's strength with a 0.5% gain.

Stocks steadied in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The Kuala Lumpur Composite index edged up 0.9 to 732.07, Thailand's SET index added 0.06 to 394.38, and the Jakarta Composite was 4.19 better at 483.57.