Share prices rebound on Tokyo stock exchange

TOKYO (Agencies): Share prices rebounded in thin trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday, heartened by stability in the yen-dollar rate and an overnight advance on Wall Street.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed 165.24 points or 0.9 percent higher at 19,277.16.

The Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues on the first section also gained 7.97 points to 1,571.18.

Turnover on the major board came to an estimated 230 million shares, against 312.25 million shares traded in the previous session.

Despite the start of a new fiscal year, many investors refrained from making new moves as they sat on the sidelines ahead of a weekend, brokers said. Foreign investors, who have supported Japanese stocks in recent months, were idle because of the Easter holiday.

In Hong Kong, gold and stock markets and foreign exchange market were closed until Tuesday for the Easter holiday and Ching Ming Festival Holiday. Trading will resume Wednesday, April 6.

Stock exchanges in Singapore and in Sydney were also closed, while in Taipei the market will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

In Seoul, share prices were back on a downhill path on the Korea Stock Exchange in active trading.

The composite index of the Exchange slid down 4.61 points to close at 862.61 points. Advances, however, outpaced retreats 419 to 311 issues while prices finished unchanged for 117 others.

Volume rose to 36,579,000 shares from 29,578,000 units marked in the previous session.

In Taipei, stocks finished up on a rebound after recent falls but trade remained slow and brokers expected the market to resume a slight downtrend consolidation afterwards.

The index ended 59.65 points higher at 5,308.87.

In Kuala Lumpur, share prices ended firmer after a session of dull, lackluster trade as the close of overseas bourses for the Easter break and the lack of leads kept most dealers sidelined.

The key Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange composite index, which tracked a confined range for most of the day, ended firmer at 959.94, up 7.22 from Thursday's close.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian share prices ended mixed, with the benchmark stock index higher, despite profit-taking and a lack of leads from key bourses closed for Good Friday.

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange composite index, which tracks 85 blue chips, rose 7.22 points, or 0.74 percent, to 959.94 from 966.77 Thursday.

Turnover was nearly halved to 64.3 million shares worth 286.3 million ringgit (US$106 million) from 120 million units valued at 600 million ringgit previously.

In Bangkok, Thai stocks closed lower on the lowest volume for 1994 over concerns about the direction of a parliamentary constitutional debate. The SET Index lost 7.46 points to

In New York, the stock market closed mixed in heavy but choppy trading Thursday as bonds' recovery from an early rout helped the Dow Jones industrial average snap a five-day slide. The Dow, which plunged 72.27 points Wednesday, bounced back 9.21 points to 3635.96.

The Nasdaq index ended off 1.45 at 743.46.

In London, shares ended mildly weaker ahead of the long Easter holiday. The FTSE 100 index closed six points down at 3,086.4.