Sony in favour on Barron's bullish view

ASIAN stocks found a mostly firmer tone today, aided by robust earnings from a brace of leading US banks overnight, and generalised hopes for a sustained recovery in the world's largest economy.

But traders said investors remained wary ahead of testimony from US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and figures from tech bellwether Intel, both due after the close of regional trade.

Among the gainers, Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony continued its remarkable renaissance of the past three months, topping 4,000 yen for the first time since the start of April.

The driving force behind the latest upswing remained the assessment outlined in US investment magazine Barron's, which argued that the company's US shares could double in value in two years.

That bullish message put 120 yen or 3% on its Tokyo shares today to 4,010 yen, hard on the heels of a 6% surge yesterday. Some investors had ditched their holdings after its lacklustre showing for the final quarter of the last fiscal year - and mixed forecasts for the year triggered a sharp slide in its share price in late April.

Sony has since staged a comeback aided by renewed investor faith in its management and hopes for greater export sales as global growth continues to pick up. Rival Matsushita also found favour with buyers. It rose 40 yen or 2.9% to 1435 yen.

Banks were in focus amid a slew of reports that regulator, the Financial Services Agency was poised to supervise them more closely, ordering them to disclose by next month further restructuring plans and accelerated bad-loan disposals.

Mizuho Financial, the largest lender by assets, picked up 3,000 yen or 2.8% to 110,000, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial climbed 12,000 yen to 315,000, a rise of 4%. UFJ firmed 13,000 yen or 6% to 231,000, and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial advanced 9000 yen or 1.7% to 545,000.

As the Bank of Japan said it was leaving monetary policy unchanged after a regular board meeting - as the market had expected - the Nikkei 225 index added 87.52 points or 0.9% at 9843.15. It closed at 9751.0, down 4.63 points.

Hong Kong's HSBC, the market's largest stock, received a fillip from its US peers' earnings numbers. It climbed 50 cents or 0.5% to HK$95.25, pushing close to its year's high of HK$97.50. Subsidiary Hang Seng Bank rose 25 cents or 0.3% to HK$84. The Hang Seng index eased on profit-taking to 10109.63, down 12.77 points or 0.13%.

Despite the wait for Intel's numbers, South Korea-listed Hynix Semiconductor shot higher on hopes for a sustained pick up in its sales. The world's third-largest memory chipmaker climbed 430 won to 9,690, better by 4.6%.

Refiner SK jumped 750 won or 5.8% to 14,400 on hopes that it will not now have to bail out affiliate SK Global. Creditors have agreed that SK Global, little changed at 1,600 won, off five won, should be placed in receivership. The Seoul Composite fell 3.45 points to 716.61, down 0.5%.

Australian giant News Corporation - which derives nearly three-quarters of its revenue from the United States - was a beneficiary in Sydney of Wall Street's showing yesterday. It rose six cents or 0.5% to A$11.93. The All Ordinaries index added 7.6 points or 0.25% at 3061.0.