Asian Markets Update: Tokyo Climbs, Seoul Falls, and Hong Kong on Holiday

TOKYO -- Asia's major stock markets continued to feel pressure Monday from last week's Apple (AAPL Quote)-inspired tech shakeout, but Japan's Nikkei 225 was able to erase early losses to finish in the plus column.

The Nikkei was able to close up 155.3 points, or 1%, at 15,902.5, after being down over 1% earlier in the session. The Topix index, which includes all shares listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, rose 1.4% to 1,491.7. Some investors remained on the sidelines Monday, however, as they waited for the release of the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey of business sentiment.

Those gains were no thanks to Tokyo's leading technology shares, however, as the sector continued to suffer from Apple's earnings warning and the Nasdaq's poor close Friday. Sony (SNE Quote) fell 160, or 1.5% to 10,800 yen ($99.75), and NEC (NIPNY Quote) dropped 50, or 2%, to 2,405 yen.

Telcos were some of the day's biggest gainers, as Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT Quote) jumped 80,000, or 7.6% to 1.14 million yen, while wireless operator NTT DoCoMo (NTDMY Quote) ended up 100,000, or 3.2% at 3.2 million yen.

The yen was little changed vs. the dollar and traded near 108.17 yen.

Hong Kong's equity markets were closed for a holiday Monday, but South Korea's Kospi index tanked 24.0 points, or nearly 4%, to 589.2, as technology shares tumbled, and Taiwan's TWSE index finished down 2.6% at 6,024.1, even though the government pledged 500 billion Taiwanese dollars ($16 billion) to stabilize the market if necessary.