HK, Taiwan marts make slight gains

HK, Taiwan marts make slight gains

HONG KONG (Reuter): Asian stock markets showed little movement
yesterday with Taipei and Hong Kong shares closing slightly
higher despite China's new round of war drills near Taiwan.

Taiwan's weighted index, recently buoyed by a government
stabilization fund, weathered the tension to end up 0.57 points,
or 0.01 percent, to finish at 4,941.42.

Brokers said concerns over tensions with China were easing
despite yesterday's scheduled start of a new round of military
exercises in the Taiwan Strait. "However, there were still some
lingering fears generating selling pressure when the index rose,"
said Michael Hung of Nikko Securities.

Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Index gained 43.70 points to
end at 10,601.28.

"Trade remains cautious in view of military tensions in the
Taiwan Strait, which left the market fumbling for direction,"
said Sean Li, an associate director at Amsteel Securities.

In Tokyo, the 225-share Nikkei average finished up 94.28
points, or 0.47 percent, at 20,285.13 despite uncertainty over
Japan's budget, a national holiday on Wednesday and the approach
of the last trading day for this month's settlements early next
week.

The Jakarta and Bangkok indices also finished in positive
territory.

Shares in Jakarta edged up at close on the back of continued
buying of secondliners and heavyweight Telkom, brokers said.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index gained 2.07 points,
or 0.36 percent, to close at 578.86 points.

The SET index in Bangkok finished 9.95 points up at 1,277.01.

Brokers in Singapore said investors remained jittery over poor
corporate results and China-Taiwan friction.

The 30-share Straits Times Industrials Index dipped 5.86
points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,361.45.

The composite stock index in Seoul fell 2.12 points as
investors waited for the state-backed Stock Market Stabilization
Fund to make a move towards boosting the market, brokers said.
The index closed at 854.46.

The 30-share Bombay index dropped 1.5 percent largely on sharp
losses by index heavyweights ITC and Reliance, traders said.

The index slipped 49.10 points to a provisional close of
3294.17.

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index ended down
4.17 points at 1,115.72, after hitting an intraday low of
1,108.98.

In Manila, the composite index rose 36.74 points to 2,858.49.

The Australian share market retreated in the afternoon session
to end flat as profit-takers snatched away the gains made up to
the midsession.

The All Ordinaries index was 0.2 points lower at 2,234.6.

The Financial Times-Stock Exchange index of 100 leading
British shares had risen 6.9 points to 3,651.7.

In Paris, the CAC-40 share index dropped 4.60 to 1,945.52.

The 30-share DAX index in Frankfurt was up 3.32 at 2,461.55.