DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Given yesterday's action in the United States, it might be a relief to hear that the Japanese market closed higher today, despite some losses in banking issues there. Michelle Han joins me live from Hong Kong now for a look at how the Asian markets fared -- Michelle.</s>MICHELLE HAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deborah, good morning. Tokyo stocks staged a sharp recovery on Thursday, after sinking to a fresh 16-year low in early trading. Banking stocks were the early casualties, after ratings agency Fitch warned it would downgrade, or it could downgrade, ratings of 19 Japanese banks. But comments from Japan's Sanwa Bank, one of the banks under review, helped to reverse the market's losses. Sanwa responded to concerns over Japan's growing bad debts by doubling its charges for lost loans, to $8.2 billion. That move was welcomed by investors as showing Sanwa's resolve to take painful losses to help clean up bad loans. And by the end of trade, the Nikkei closed with a gain of 2.6 percent. Hong Kong stocks are also managing to recoup their early declines. The Hang Seng index ended up 1.3 percent. Investors turned buyers of property shares on hopes that developers would benefit from a possible cut in U.S. interest rates later this month. And in Taiwan, stocks made gains for a third straight session. Investors shrugged off Wall Street's selloff on Wednesday and went bargain hunting for bargain...</s>MARCHINI: A little better than yesterday. Thanks, Michelle.
Asian Market Update: Japanese Stocks Close Higher, Despite Banking Losses