SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN ANCHOR: Two of the major Asian markets finished on the upside. Dalton Tanonaka joins me live from our Hong Kong Bureau, with the latest. Good to see you -- Dalton.</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. You know, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is making his position clear on his country's currency. He is on a state visit to Europe and told the "Financial Times" that Japan has no intention of deliberately weakening the yen, and that helped boost the currency in early Asian trading, to 123.67 to the dollar. It later lost some ground, but not much. To the markets, where the Tokyo market was quiet, with a bounce early on on the gains in the United States. The Nikkei closed a half percent firmer. Japan's leading mobile phone company, NTT DoCoMo, says it's on track to meet the October 1 target for a full launch of its 3G service. The company originally planned to launch full 3G services by the end of May, but software glitches in its handsets and network forced it to scale back those plans. Hong Kong share prices closed firmer on the strong performances of China's leading mobile phone operators. China Mobile rose 2.7 percent, CHINA UNICOM gaining 1 percent. But prices in Seoul closed in negative territory, weighed down by Hyundai Motor. The carmaker fell for the second straight day, down 4 percent, after reporting weak June sales. And that is the Asian market day. I'm Dalton Tanonaka -- back to you in New York.</s>LISOVICZ: Dalton Tanonaka, in our Hong Kong Bureau. Thanks, Dalton. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Asian Market Update: Japanese Prime Minister's Remarks on Yen Boost Currency