The yen bucked the downtrend against the dollar, trading at 115.33 per dollar from 115.74.

Of the Nikkei 225 index stocks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group led the advancers with a rise of 5.6%, followed by increases of 5.1% in Advantest Corporation, 4.96% in Nomura Holdings, 4.70% in Clarion Company Limited, and 4.44% in Sumitomo Trust.

Mazda soared 0.84% on news the company has developed a catalyst to cut the use of expensive metals by 90% while maintaining performance. It however maintained outlook for a net loss of 15 billion yen because of high taxes.

Kikkoman Corp led the decliners with a sharp fall of 7.92%, followed by losses in IHI Corporation of 6.05%, of 3.93 in Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos. Fuji Electric Company and Ajinomoto Company Inc shed 3.65% each.

Qimonda Ag announced today it would be partnering Sony Corp to form a joint venture company Qreatic Design to develop DRAM chips electronics including camera, televisions and other consumer electronics. Sony and Qimonda will own equal stakes in the venture that is expected to begin operations by end of year. Qimonda Ag is 86% owned by Infineon Technologies AG. Elpida, largest DRAM chip maker in Japan, fell 150 yen to close at 3,940 after the news of the joint venture. However, chip equipment makers Advantest added 180 yen to 3,750 and Tokyo Electron added 4.3% to 7,560 yen.

According to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co spokesman Akira Kadota the company will triple annual capacity at the No.2 factory in Hyogo, western Japan to 6.6 million plasma panels from the 2.2 million units currently produced to meet demand.

The company also said it sold 17 distribution centers last month to Pro Logis, the world’s largest publicly traded industrial developer, for 85 billion yen.

In other Asian markets trading Hong Kong, Australia, and Korea closed at record highs. Australia rose 1.3% to 6,667.60, Hong Kong increased 3.9% to 28,199.75 and Korea edged 2.6% higher to 2,014.09. Taiwan jumped 1.4% to 9,623.25.