7:30AM Nikkei closes a notch up, bullion prices cross the $660.00 an ounce level.
In Japan the Nikkei 225 Average closed at 16,921.51, 15.29 points higher. Investors denied the yen impulse to breach the level of 113.84 yen to dollar. Australia''s S&P/ASX 200 Index went up 1% in intraday, putting up 50.4 points to 5,309.20, as mining and natural resource issues added up gains in bullion prices that reached above the $660.00 an ounce level. Shares in New Zealand fell slightly. Elsewhere, leading stocks around the region were closed for a public holiday. Sony Corp. went down 5.14%, while Toshiba Corp reversed the trend to gain as much as 2.9% after posting a 16% jump in profit to 41.69 billion yen last week. Both Toyota motor and Honda Motor went slightly up in automotive stocks. Mazda Motor advanced 1.2% after Friday''s announcement that profits hit a record high in fiscal 2005 on strong vehicle sales worldwide.