Asian stock markets higher in line with Wall Street
Asian stock markets higher in line with Wall Street
HONG KONG (REUTER): Asian markets were mostly higher yesterday following a rise in the dollar and Wall Street overnight, brokers said.
Hong Kong stocks were the major gainers with the blue-chip Hang Seng Index surging 97.42 points, or 1.05 percent, to close at 9,336.11.
Brokers said the rise was due mainly to bargain-hunting by domestic investors, with some buying by Japanese funds.
Sentiment in Australia was also cheered by Wall Street's rise, helping the All Ordinaries gain 16.6 points to 2,077.8.
The All Resources sub-index, comprising commodity-based stocks, soared 1.64 percent, compared with a rise of just 0.36 percent in the All Industrials index.
Stocks in Tokyo however failed to take heart from a marginal weakening in the yen and the Nikkei average ended down 68.31 points, or 0.33 percent, at 20,443.29.
Brokers said sentiment was dampened by domestic profit-taking and by investors cashing in stocks in readiness for the imminent listing of Japan Tobacco Inc. and Japan Telecom Co.
Share prices in Manila, Seoul, Wellington, Singapore, Shanghai and Sri Lanka were all higher.
The day's main loser was Bangkok, where panic selling of finance sector stocks triggered a 2.02 percent plunge in the SET index to 1,444.72.
Shares bounded forward in Europe, as investors decided that a surge of new confidence on Wall Street was a buy signal that could not be ignored.
Markets in Paris, London and Frankfurt quickly added more than one percent, following strong rises overnight in Hong Kong,
Sydney and other Asian markets. Amsterdam and Zurich also moved ahead strongly. The cue for the advances was a big rise in the Dow Jones industrial average on signs that U.S. inflation was under control and the economy was settling back to a sustainable rate of growth. The Dow closed 70.90 points higher at 3,846.73, its strongest one-day performance in more than four months.
In London, the main FTSE 100 index opened 1.03 percent higher for a gain of 33 points but the advance was later trimmed to 26 points before turning higher again. The market rose 30 points on Wednesday.
In Paris, the CAC-40 share index gained 22.91 to 2,029.20. The 30-share DAX index in Frankfurt was up 24.11 at 2,150.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed 70.90 points higher at 3,846.73, its strongest performance in over four months. The New York Stock Exchange's collar on program trades was activated when the Dow index gained more than 50 points. It closed above 3,800 for the first time since June 16. But some analysts said much of the rally's fuel came from short-covering and they did not expect to see stocks threaten all-time highs.