Regional stocks rise across the board

Regional stocks rise across the board

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Share prices in Asia-Pacific markets rose across the board yesterday as governments moved to bring back investors' confidence to the region.

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange composite 100 index soared 12.4 percent in its highest single day rise in almost four years, followed by a record 11.3 percent rise in share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Bangkok shares were up 3.5 percent on bargain-hunting and Singapore gained 3.1 percent on renewed confidence in neighboring Malaysia.

The KLSE-100 ended the week stronger as investors welcomed a reversal in government policies and news of a lower trade deficit for July.

"This was the first most concerted charge by local funds to buy up shares and the market appeared to have bottomed out," said Danny Ooi, technical analyst with Interpac Capital.

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange 100-share weighted composite index surged 90.47 points, its highest single-day rise since January 14, 1994, to end at 821.59. The lesser second board index rose 38.27 points, or 10.5 percent, to 401.01.

Another analyst lauded the government for "finally doing the right thing to secure stability in the market," referring to the lifting of the week-old curb on trading in the 100 component stocks of the KLSE-100 composite index and shelving of several huge infrastructure projects.

News that Malaysia recorded a trade deficit of 900 million ringgit (US$300 million) in July, sharply lower than June's 2.8 billion ringgit also boosted sentiment, he said.

The worst should be over in the market as long as the government refrained from making any adverse statements, he added.

Turnover on the bourse surged to 813.536 million shares worth 3.447 billion ringgit ($1.149 million) from 505.995 million units valued at 1.676 billion ringgit a day earlier.

Other regional bourses recorded slight gains, ending a week which also saw record lows on currency markets.

In Singapore, the Stock Exchange of Singapore's blue-chip benchmark, Straits Times Industrials index, rose 57.45 points to end at 1,884.06 while the broader All-Singapore index rose 14.64 points to 455.21.

In Hong Kong, the key Hang Seng Index gained 364.38 points to finish at 14,563.55.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei Stock Average of 225 leading issues rose 35.11 points, or 0.2 percent, to finish at 18,650.17 while the Topix index of all issues on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 1.98 points at 1,444.65.

In Sydney, the Australian Stock Exchange's main indicator, the all ordinaries index, rose 17.5 points to 2,626.0. The all resources index closed up 4.5 points at 1,358.9 and the all industrials index rose 33.5 points to 4,247.4.

In Bangkok, the composite Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index was up 18.19 points to 540.39 points, while the selected SET 50 index gained 1.83 points to finish at 40.04.

In Jakarta, the Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index closed up 60.243 points at 594. 113 points.

In Manila, the Philippine Stock Exchange composite index rose 31.54 points to close at 2,109.22 points.

In Seoul, the composite index closed up 12.93 points at 700.92.

In Shanghai, the composite index of A and B share index rose 0.26 points, or 0.02 percent, to close at 1,251.55 points while the selected SSE-30 index closed 9. 11 points, or 0.2 percent, lower at 3,809.73 points.

In Taipei, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index increased 142.54 points to 9,290.39.

In Auckland, the NZSE-40 index rose 1.61 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,472.67.