DATE=5/17/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ASIA/ WEEK MARKET WRAP (L-Only)

NUMBER=2-289915

BYLINE=KATHERINE MARIA

DATELINE=HONG KONG

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In Asia, markets ended mostly up at the week's end, with telecommunications and technology shares making gains across the region. Taiwan's market, however, slipped slightly, as prices of computer chips continued to decline. Katherine Maria in Hong Kong has this week's Asia Market Wrap.

TEXT: Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended two-point-eight percent higher than last week's close, at 11-thousand-974 points.

Early in the day, the index briefly broke through the key level of 12-thousand points, after China Mobile, the second largest stock on the Hong Kong exchange, announced a 10-point-two-billion-dollar deal to buy eight networks from its parent.

Howard Gorges is vice chairman of South China Securities in Hong Kong.

/// GORGES ACT ///

China Mobile was a very big mover today. People like the deal they've just done. That's pushed the index up strongly. It has been helped by Hutchinson, Cheung Kong and one or two other big blue chips, but it's still a market where you're getting a certain amount of rotation between blue chips stocks. Not everything is rising at the same time.

/// END ACT ///

Korea's Kospi index closed at 875 on Friday, a seven percent jump from last week's close. Gains in the U-S market helped boost the technology and electronics shares. The world's largest memory chipmaker, Samsung Electronics, rose on bargain hunting after losses, following a downgrade by U-B-S-Warburg last week. Brokers in Korea said the stock looked cheap after falling from its mid-April high.

Tokyo's Nikkei posted a nine-week high, ending at 11-thousand-847, a two-point-seven percent rise from last week's close. Foreign investors were said to be behind the strong advance. Shares of Japan's second largest telecommunications company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, gained 11 percent over the week, after forecasting a strong earnings turnaround for this year.

In Taipei, the TAIEX (PRONO: TIE-EX) index ended slightly down from last Friday, falling 18 points to five-thousand-789.

Investors in Taiwan remain cautious, after weaker demand for D-Ram computer chips forced prices to slide further. (Signed)

NEB/HK/KM/KPD/TW