DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go now to Dalton Tanonaka for a look at how the Asian markets performed overnight. And, Dalton: mixed bag?</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Deborah. You're right. Most stock markets in the Asia Pacific region lack a major motivating factor. But, as you know, the attention in Japan is on former health minister Junichiro Koizumi set to be the country's next prime minister. Koizumi preached reform in this campaign, something that financial markets reacted positively to. The Nikkei spent most of the day in negative territory, firming after Koizumi's political party election, to close the day up two- tenths of 1 percent. Investors in Seoul bought technology shares near the end of the day, but it wasn't enough to push the major indices into positive territory: the benchmark KOSPI closing down nearly 1 percent; the tech-heavy KOSDAQ slipping two-tenths of a percent. In Hong Kong, telecom shares held that market down for most of the day on reports that Japan's NTT DoCoMo is delaying the full launch of its 3G services until October 1. The Hang Seng firmed slightly to end the day a quarter-percent weaker -- a different story in Thailand, where traders piled into financials after Ekachart Finance announced it would begin banking operations: the composite index rising more than 2 percent. And that it the business and market day here in Asia. Deb, back to you in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, Dalton, thank you.
Asian Markets Mixed; Nikkei Boosted by Koizumi's Election