Asian stocks make gains<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Hong Kong<\/p>\n
Most of Asia's major bourses rose moderately on Thursday as
\npositive sentiment about the U.S. economy flowed into the
\nregion's markets.<\/p>\n
The major gainers were Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney and Kuala
\nLumpur after Wall Street rose fueled by optimism about the
\noutlook for the world's biggest economy.<\/p>\n
In Tokyo, Japanese share prices closed 0.91 percent higher
\nfollowing comments by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan
\nGreenspan which strongly suggested there will be no early U.S.
\ninterest rate hike.<\/p>\n
In his semi-annual Congressional testimony on Wednesday,
\nGreenspan repeated his view the central bank can remain "patient"
\non a rate hike because of the continuing slack in the U.S.
\neconomy and low inflation, sending U.S. stock prices higher.<\/p>\n
"The Nikkei index rose on the back of the U.S. market gains",
\nsaid Motoshi Tada, manager for investment information at Yamamaru
\nSecurities.<\/p>\n
"However I doubt the market can continue rising, with worries
\nover oversupply and the yen's appreciation remaining," Tada
\nadded.<\/p>\n
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei-225 index gained 93.86
\npoints at 10,459.26 while the broader Topix index of all First
\nSection shares rose 5.66 points or 0.55 percent to 1,030.91.<\/p>\n
Market sentiment was also lifted by encouraging data released
\non Thursday, showing the Japanese economic recovery remains on
\ntrack despite the yen's appreciation against the dollar.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong shares also finished the day up, but with gains
\ntrimmed and sentiment somewhat dampened by talk property firm New
\nWorld Development could be about to make a rights issue.<\/p>\n
The Hang Seng Index closed up 100.37 points or 0.74 percent at
\n13,625.13 after dipping to a low of 13,585.41 in mid-afternoon as
\nrumors New World was about to launch a rights issue of new shares
\nat a price of about HK$6.0 (77 U.S. cents) per share started to
\ncirculate.<\/p>\n
In Singapore, the city-state's share prices closed 0.29
\npercent lower on profit-taking.<\/p>\n
The Straits Times Index closed down 5.57 points at 1,862.92,
\nwhile the broader All Singapore Equities fell 2.97 points to
\nclose at 504.33.<\/p>\n
Dealers said concerns over acquisitions were undermining
\nsentiment in the broader market.<\/p>\n
ST Assembly Test Services (STATS), a unit of government
\ninvestment arm Singapore Technologies, remained under selling
\npressure after announcing on Tuesday a $1.6 billion deal to
\nacquire a 54 percent stake in U.S. rival ChipPAC.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, Indonesian share prices closed 0.48 percent lower,
\nwith investors nervous ahead of the Supreme Court ruling on a
\ngraft case appeal by parliament Speaker Akbar Tanjung.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index ended down 3.710
\npoints at 766.083.<\/p>\n
"The rise among regional markets did not help much," said
\nMandiri Sekuritas technical analyst Arwani Pranajaja.<\/p>\n
Instead investors decided to realize their profits on blue
\nchips that rose in the recent market rebound, he said. Telkom and
\nAstra International were both down on Thursday on profit-taking.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Bangkok, Thai share prices closed down 0.67
\npercent as late profit-taking in blue-chip stocks emerged
\nfollowing recent gains.<\/p>\n
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index dropped
\n5.08 points to close at 748.16 points and the blue-chip SET 50
\nindex was off 0.45 points at 49.34.<\/p>",
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