Asian stocks up on interest-rate hopes

Asian stocks up on interest-rate hopes

SINGAPORE (AFP): Asian stock markets with the notable exception of Tokyo rose on Thursday on follow-through buying sparked by the third U.S. rate-cut in seven weeks and hopes that regional banks will follow suit.

A stronger performance overnight on Wall Street, whose Dow Jones index closed up 0.6 percent, and hopes that a Japanese stimulus spending package would work also aided regional gains, dealers said.

In Singapore, share prices benefited from renewed buying by institutional investors amid hopes for further interest rate cuts.

"Personally I think the buying the last two days is overdone. The run-up has been led largely by banking and property stocks. We may see some rotational interest towards the weekend," he said.

The Straits Times Index rose 44.85 points to 1,316.55, while the broader All-Singapore index rose 9.82 points to 364.19.

In Tokyo, Japanese stocks fell 1.7 percent as investors were disappointed by fading prospects of a cut in the consumption tax, brokers said.

Investors mostly stayed on the sidelines before U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived at mid-afternoon on a two-day visit, brokers said.

The Nikkei average of 225 leading issues fell 244.77 points to finish at 14,354.46, wiping off a 1.3-percent 186.23-point gain in the previous session.

In Hong Kong, share prices rose 1.0 percent on hopes that local interest rates would ease, but gains were limited with the market already having factored in a rate cut, dealers said.

"Basically, the market has discounted for sometime the local interest rate cut," which explained the subdued buying, said Sean Li, associate director at Amsteel Securities.

The key Hang Seng index gained 99.88 points to close at 10,313.30 -- its highest since May 6 when the index stood at 10,109.14, after gaining 64.73 points in the previous day's trade.

In Sydney, Australian shares closed up 0.4 percent thanks to a buoyant Wall Street and strong retail stocks, brokers said.

The Australian Stock Exchange's main indicator, the All Ordinaries index, closed up 11.9 points at 2,680.6.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian share prices closed barely higher in a minor technical rebound amid an absence of clear leads to spur full-fledged buying.

The benchmark Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's composite index rose 0.24 points to finish at 458.58 while the lesser second board index gained 0.03 points at 129.53.

In Bangkok, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index rose 13.43 points to 358.56 points, while the select SET 50 was up 1.06 points at 26.25.

In Manila, the Philippine Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.76 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 1,819.01 points.

In Taipei, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index rose 200.20 points to 7,300.34, following a 0.4-percent decline in the previous session.

In Seoul, the Korea Stock Exchange composite index closed up 17.32 points at 441.06, off an early low of 422.00.

In Shanghai, the B-share index added 0.07 points to close at 33.77 points, while the A-share index of locally traded stocks ended down 10.65 points, or 0.8 percent, at 1,355.97 points.

In Auckland, the benchmark NZSE-40 index finished trade down 6.67 points at 1,969.28.