Share prices mixed

HONG KONG (Reuter): Asian stock markets put in a mixed performance yesterday, with share prices firming in Hong Kong and Tokyo and falling sharply for the fourth straight day in Taiwan.

Tokyo's Nikkei index ended up 50.01 points, or 0.25 percent, at 19,796.36 despite newly listed JT shares closing 23.5 percent below their public offer price.

Brokers in Hong Kong said improved sentiment lifted the Hang Seng index 52.14 points, or 0.56 percent, to end at 9,304.58 -- well off the day's high of 9,341.40.

The Taipei market's key index ended down 90.90 points, or 1.36 percent, at 6,594.97. Investors were said to be cautious.

Sydney's All Ordinaries Index ended 14.6 points, or 0.72 percent, up at 2032.2, and Wellington's NZSE-40 Capital Index closed up 21.10 points, or one percent, at 2,090.42.

Shares prices closed generally lower in Southeast Asia. Singapore's 30-share Straits Times Industrials index fell 0.60 point to 2,356.69, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's benchmark Composite Index dropped 3.80 points to 1,101.74, and Bangkok's SET index closed 12.34 points lower at 1,501.73.

In London, the Financial Times-Stock Exchange index of 100 leading British shares rose 8.8 points to 3,008.7.

In Paris, the CAC-40 share index gained 13.28 to 1,844.54.

The 30-share DAX index in Frankfurt was down 2.19 at 2,018.31.